Mild Steel 1084 harder than normal???

Col Defender

Col Defender

Joined
Nov 11, 2011
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Hi - I use 1084 almost exclusively so as one would expect I have developed a pretty good idea of how much grinding is required to remove metal and how many belts will be needed for a particular amount of progress. But right now I'm experiencing something totally new (to me). Recently I have been working on 3 Kukris all cut from a single piece of 5/32" 4" x 48" 1084 - these:




And it has been just really difficult to achieve the progress you can see in this picture. Many hours and many new belts consumed. Nothing like I normally experience.

So could I be dealing with an unusually hard piece of steel right from the manufacturer? (All the work so far is pre-heat treat. Do such variations occur in the steel we buy perhaps from batch to batch? Possibly I have a bunch of defective belts but I doubt that because I have used 60 and 120 grit ceramic belts and now 220 grit Alox.

Anybody know what might be going on here?

Thanks!
 
Guess the big question is this, have you made this style of knife befor? Big blades can eat up belts because there is so much surface area.
 
JTknives said:
Guess the big question is this, have you made this style of knife befor? Big blades can eat up belts because there is so much surface area.
Click to expand...

Thanks JT - I have made blades this big before, though not quite the same design. No doubt the surface area has a lot to do with the issue.
 
How many belts did it take you to grind these out? As long as your using good quality ceremic belts and anealed steel I don't see how a minor variation in harness would affect much.
 
The other thing that may have changed is you may have done a better HT than before.


BTW, 1084 is not mild steel. It is high carbon steel. It gets to Rc 64-65 with a proper HT. A temper of 400F still leaves it at Rc 61+. 450F only drops it to Rc 60.
 
Stacy, he said all work so far is pre heat treat.
It could have had some nasty mill scale.
 
I would ask where you got it. Like I've said in the past, the 1095 that I have access to is discrete plate that comes in at roughly 42-45 RC. It is a bear to work with without annealing first. If you're used to working with Aldo's 1084, and got this piece from somewhere else, it may simply be in a different state of hardness and spherodization.
 
It might not be annealed. I've gotten some 1084 before from Kelly Couples that was too hard to drill through without annealing. It was super cheap and great for forging though.

Perhaps I missed it, did you say you order from a new source for this steel?
 
JG Custom Metal Works said:
It might not be annealed. I've gotten some 1084 before from Kelly Couples that was too hard to drill through without annealing. It was super cheap and great for forging though.

Perhaps I missed it, did you say you order from a new source for this steel?
Click to expand...

The steel is from Aldo which is where I always get it. I was reluctant to put that in the OP for fear some might think I was unhappy with his steel. I am not and as some have said, the real problem may be me - just underestimating how much time and how many belts I would need.
 
It's probably pearlite rather than spheroidized. Much harder on belts what way. Run it at 1200f for a coup,e hours and it should grind much easier.
 
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