Need help in identifying steel please

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godogs57

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Apr 16, 2004
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Your suggestions/guesses are appreciated. I have a friend who makes rather primitive homemade grafting knives from steel stock he buys at an industrial supplier. Naturally he says its the best blade steel he has ever used and wants me to make him a few more. He can graft all day long and never have to sharpen it, per his comments. It comes in 6" x 1" by 1/8" sections and it is tapered down to 1/16" on one side (1/8" on top). American made and all they say is that it is high speed steel. I tested it and it is 65Rc. He takes it and sands it to shape, and it takes him forever to do so. I can only imagine. He gave me a blank to shape this weekend on my grinder and it was tough as woodpecker lips on a brand new 60 grit ceramic belt.

All I know is it is labeled "Cleveland HSS c/o blade" I can assume Cleveland manufactures it. It is carbon steel, magnetic, but throws very little sparks. However, it does not rust, or is extremely rust resistant. His older grafting knives made of the same steel had no rust on them at all. Just a little minor discoloration from the pecan sap encountered during the grafting process.

D2? A2? My only guesses.....Thanks in advance for anything you folks can add...
 
I am not one that uses unknown steel... but after some searching does the blade look like this?
t1-hss-planer-knife-sets.jpg
 
Nope that's not it...not a planer blade. After doing a google search it is considered a cutoff blade. Same general shape, but not a knife edge on one side...just a taper to about 1/16" thickness.
 
I'm almost 100% certain that John and Stan are correct. Kind of an expensive way to get barstock, but if you A) have the means and patience to shape it and especially B) don't want to mess with a full HT regimen, why not?

I don't have the temperatures handy, but you might could temper it back quite a bit, so it would be easier to work with but still hold a good edge. It's still going to have all those Tungsten and Vanadium carbides.
 
OK thanks folks.....now for question #2.....would M2 make pretty good blade steel???? Thanks...

Stan...that's it...you found it.
 
godogs57 said:
OK thanks folks.....now for question #2.....would M2 make pretty good blade steel???? Thanks...
Click to expand...
Well, considering we routinely drill and mill steel with it, I'd say yeah, it will cut stuff. :p I don't know how appropriate it would be for a big tough chopper, but I think it's well worth a try for small to medium knives. I suspect it would be pretty chippy in a thin knife edge at 65Rc, so again, I would look into the tempering specs if I had some to play with.
 
Those old, aluminum handled Gerber hunting knives(back when Gerber knives were good) were made out of M2. Those things would stay sharp for almost forever, but good luck sharpening them with anything but diamond stones.
 
I've used HSS saw blades and they are much tougher than you'd think. I basically made a tiny machete for testing. 5" blade, 10 degree/side edge on it, with a 20 dps Sharpmaker microbevel, less than 1/16" thick, 1mm I think. Batoned, dug holes in 1x6, threw it, cut bread ties, cut annealed 1095, cut a boat load of cardboard, etc. I have a write up on here some where. Held a very sharp edge longer than anything I've tried before. It was still treetopping after 300 inches of cardboard, in the same 1.5" of blade.
 
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