My first blade.

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Knifemakingiszen

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Apr 10, 2019
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You Hey guys my names Stephen and I’m from Louisiana. I’m a BMW technician for a living and Motorsport enthusiast. I recently got the bug from watching forged in fire. I’m so obsessed my wife thinks I’m nuts lol. I built my own forge and am slowly learning and making mistakes but learning from them.My wife got me a book for Christmas called The complete blade smith and it is a wealth of knowledge. So this is my first fully forged knife. I made it from bar stock I got at tractor supply I believe the metal is 4065 but don’t quote me on that I’ll update later...I know that it’s not the perfect metal to use but it’s cheap and local and will get hard enough for the design I’m making “I think” which is like a recurved machete type thing.Any heat treating advice on this kind of steel would be appreciated.
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Welcome. I deleted your double post.

It would be good for you to fill out your profile info so we know where you are.
The Stickys has a lot of info, including how to post a photo.

No one can tell you how to do the HT because no one knows what steel it is. It is sort of like a customer calling you up and saying, " My car won't start … what do I need to do to get it running?" Go back and find out what the steel was and we can give you some guidance. The stickys also has a lot of HT info. FWIW, I don't think there is a 4065 steel … perhaps it was some other numbers … maybe 4062 or 5160?

The Custom Search engine will find older threads on any subject. Use it to find anything from "How do I post a photo" to " How do I HT 5160 steel"
 
What part of the state are you in, I’m in Bunkie? There are several great makers from La and depending on your area and willingness to travel hammer ins are available from time to time.
As far as big box store steel goes it’s typically mild steel. Almost everyone orders steel online. A machete is a bit ambitious for a first knife and challenging for an experienced maker to heat treat. Start small, start basic.
Posting pics can be frustrating, there are free image hosting sites like imgur where you can simply post and link.
 
Sorry for my mistakes guys the steel I used is 4064. I knew it wasn’t exactly right when I bought it but I just wanted to see if I could actually shape something. I’ll go update my profile too. I tried one of the free photo things I saw in a thread but it doesn’t want to work when I upload. Possibly the wrong format? I’m located in Eunice Louisiana 3fifty7 about 2 hours from you
 
That's A36 hot rolled steel, it's no good as a blade steel you can't heat treat it. The 4064 is the distributors catalog number.

You want something like 1080 / 1084 for heat treating a knife at home.
 
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Yep, I’m familiar with Eunice. I picked up some corrugated pipe there last week.
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Get yourself some 1084 and get with it.
There is no loss in forging out the steel you have just to get a feel for the way it moves. I’d still recommend you start with projects smaller than a machete.
 
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Good forging steel:
New Jersey Steel Baron
USA Knifemakers
Texas Knife Supply
Jantz Knife Supply
 
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