Need Help with steel

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elkslayer54

Joined
Jan 2, 2007
Messages
3
I have some 4118 steel I think has been nitrated (?) this stuff is hard, real hard, Is this good knife steel or bad? I really do not know. It takes forever to sharpen but seems to hold an edge real well. Please give me some advice. Thanks in advance. Bill
 
This is the make up of that steel. From the Carbon Content I would say it would not make a great knife. This is assuming that this is the same steel that you have

AISI 4118
Category Steel
Class Alloy steel
Type Standard
Common Names Chromium-molybdenum steel
Designations United States: ASTM A322 , ASTM A331 , ASTM A505 , ASTM A519 , SAE J404 , SAE J412 , SAE J770 , UNS G41180

Composition
Element Weight %
C 0.18-0.23
Mn 0.70-0.90
P 0.035 (max)
S 0.04 (max)
Si 0.15-0.30
Cr 0.40-0.60
Mo 0.08-0.15
 
Thanks, But you will have to forgive my ignorance, I have no idea what any of that means, I am not sure if this is what I have or not, I work at a power plant where we have a turbine, The turbine is @ 1005f degrees, This steel has been in there for 12 years. This steel came out of it. and one of our turbine guys said it was 4118 possibly nitrate bathed, He said it is super hard. Would be great knife matreial, I really have no idea, I made a couple and they look great but lots of work. I hand sanded them down up to 1500 grit. I tried to drill holes in the handle area tang area I think, with a carbide tip drill bit and it burnt up 3 different bits at different speeds and diamaters of bits, Smooth melted them like butter. This stuff is hard, I was just trying to find out if my efforts were in vain, Thanks again Bill.
 
If you already made a couple of knives from this steel, do some cutting tests with them and let us all know how they perform. The steel sounds pretty tough if it was hard to drill, so it may make good cutters.
 
I killed a hog the other day just to test the steel, It would shave before I cleaned the hog, I removed the skin head feet ect, and when I was done it would still shave, not as good as before, but it would still shave, Seems to be ok but I really do not know. Bill
 
The steel itself wouldn't make a good blade .Adding nitrogen is done in diffusion layer .Once the layer is ground or worn away you won't have much.
 
sorry wrong area..I was told to get carbide bits for drilling old skil circular saw blades for knife blanks..I know our local hardware has carbide bits..but they are for masonry drilling..Would they have others for drilling metals similar to saw blades or am I in the right church but the wrong pew..? any help would be appreciated...

Bill
 
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