Old leaf spring.

[adriancook53]

Hi there made a bowie knife out of an old leaf spring haven't subjected it to nothing but about 20 degrees of heat as I disc cut it oversize then gradually sanded it down over a period of about a week until I had the core ct shape.have more or less finished it now with stag handles just needs tidying up .just wondering if all my work is for nothing if it's not hard enough.what do you think.

 

[Lieblad]

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[Bo T]

As noted a tough knife. Take a sharpener with you as it is soft. Old leaf springs can have micro fractures in the steel so might be prone to failure if used hard.

 

[adriancook53]

I have know way and wasn't sure how to heat treat it.what started me wanting to make a knife was that I have in my collection a few khukri knives and read in the forum about old khukri being made from leaf springs so went to the scrappy next to where I work and he gave me a ford transit spring.The only tool I had where I work was a 4.5 sander+disc cutter.shaped and ground the blade and then had 3 pieces of bronze so I bronze welded the bolster together shaped drilled and riveted it.spent £5.00 at pets at home shop on some antler and hey presto 15 minutes a day in my coffee break for 3 weeks this is it.Iam quite pleased with my attempt even though it possibly isn't up to scratch. All the same thanks for help.
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[Bo T]

It looks good for a starter. If you can get a file made from good steel, you can temper it softer and make a harder blade the next time.

 

[adriancook53]

Thanks for that .Moving house in 3 weeks when that's done I will give it a go.👍

 

[adriancook53]

What other metal is good for making knives.Any stainless steel or do you have to get the right grade of that .?

 

[Matt River]

Important to use a steel with a hardening response for standard blades. This means that if heated to non-magnetic and rapidly cooled the internal structure will change. Low carbon steels will not harden enough from quenching, this includes most common stainless steels. A simple solution for high quality blades is to buy a quality known steel, shape and send out for heat treat, 440c is a standard stainless, 1085, 5160 are good carbon steels to start on.

For purposes of using unknown/junkyard/backyard steel a forge really helps. You can use a torch to heat up a sample past magnetic, quench, and see if the steel has become brittle enough to snap. If the steel hardens, you can make a blade but there will be many unknown factors and heat treat will be based off of experimentation and testing.

Another issue is that most smaller size modern leafspring is nitrogen steel of some type, very tough stuff but does not attain hardness in a traditional manner. I am rambling, look up junkyard steel if recycling is of interest, for a "perfect as it can be" type of blade, buy steel and pay a heat treater. Good luck

 

[1 ADAM12]

Man, people they're some talented people on here for sure👍🏼

 

[Willie71]

For the tools you have, it's a great first effort! :thumbup:

Obviously there is a lot to learn, and each knife gets better. When you get set up in your new place, get some 1084, or even 1075 from Aldo (1075 is only 1/4" or thicker.) a coffee can/paint can forge is easy to set up and is cheap. Quench in heated canola oil. Look up the steel at New Jersey Steel Baron if in the states, or Knifemaker.ca in Canada. It's much cheaper than you think.

As to stainless, you would have to send out for heat treat, as home heat treat requires expensive equipment. If you want to try stainless, aeb-l s35vn, cpm 154, or even 440c are easy to get and not ridiculously expensive.

 

[adriancook53]

Thanks so much matt .much appreciated. I will make a few equires to find out where I can get some heat treatment done.

 

[Willie71]

Btw, fill out your profile. Knife makers are generous people. You are likely to get an invite to a local knifemaker's shop if we know where you are.