First post, but a long-time gleaner of these forums. I am getting more into knifemaking as a hobby and have some questions about pipe steel as a source of stock material. I currently use the stock removal method, but later on down the line, as my finances permit, I would like to do some forging because I have always been fascinated by blacksmithing in general. I favor a carbon steel blade that is easy to resharpen, so that probably puts me in a minority. Even though the added work of caring for a blade like that may put folks off, I think it adds to the character of a tool. And with the exception of a grinder for roughing out the pattern, I hand file/finish everything, so I guess that puts me on the primitive side.
To the Question:
I work at a pipe distribution center and have readily avalible scraps and remnants of pipe that I can take home for no cost. I tried to do some research on maybe somebody else using this for blade material, but I have found nothing. The ASTM designation is A53 for ERW and A106 for seamless weld. The max/min chemical comps vary a good bit per the standards, but I also have an XRF analyzer I use at work that can detect all metals/elements down to around Titanium on the periodic table accurately--not Carbon--but I can use the exclusion method to get a close approximation of the carbon content. I also have access to MTR's for specific runs/pieces of pipe that should be accurate within the margin of error set by the manufacturer.
With that said, would this steel be worth the time and effort of splitting the round sections and flattening them out to use as stock material for blades? I guess there is a metallurgist out there that could say wether or not this stuff would be A) relatively easy to work and B) can be tempered to around tool-steel hardness or better, which I what I'm looking for.
And as a side note, I can also get A312 304L and 316L stainless pieces to work with, but I assumed that it would require higher temperatures than I want to mess with to pre-work.
If anyone has any experiance with these materials or could put me in touch with someone who could advise me on this, I'd appriciate it greatly. The metalurgical sciences is not part of a Civil Engineering degree, sadly...
Thanks and Happy Smithing!
To the Question:
I work at a pipe distribution center and have readily avalible scraps and remnants of pipe that I can take home for no cost. I tried to do some research on maybe somebody else using this for blade material, but I have found nothing. The ASTM designation is A53 for ERW and A106 for seamless weld. The max/min chemical comps vary a good bit per the standards, but I also have an XRF analyzer I use at work that can detect all metals/elements down to around Titanium on the periodic table accurately--not Carbon--but I can use the exclusion method to get a close approximation of the carbon content. I also have access to MTR's for specific runs/pieces of pipe that should be accurate within the margin of error set by the manufacturer.
With that said, would this steel be worth the time and effort of splitting the round sections and flattening them out to use as stock material for blades? I guess there is a metallurgist out there that could say wether or not this stuff would be A) relatively easy to work and B) can be tempered to around tool-steel hardness or better, which I what I'm looking for.
And as a side note, I can also get A312 304L and 316L stainless pieces to work with, but I assumed that it would require higher temperatures than I want to mess with to pre-work.
If anyone has any experiance with these materials or could put me in touch with someone who could advise me on this, I'd appriciate it greatly. The metalurgical sciences is not part of a Civil Engineering degree, sadly...
Thanks and Happy Smithing!
