Question about aluminum ?

K

Kevin the grey

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Aug 26, 2005
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I have access to aluminum arrow shafts . These are made from xx75 aluminum and better . I don,t know how xx75 translates into metal type or if it is just a brandname . Could this aluminum be made into a knife or is it just not suited . Is it just too soft ? Would it loan itself to some applications ?
 
The 4 digits are the aluminum alloy .There is a 7075 which is a heat treatable alloy and that's most likely it. No aluminum alloy is suited for blades . I just bought a HAM antenna from a company that used arrow shafts for the elements ,that's one use for you !!
 
If its heat treatable there must be some kind of knife it could make ? Is it cause its just too soft ? What about if I made it into small game heads that more rely upon shocking instead of penetraion and therefor could have a blunter blade and therefor able to take more punishment .
 
it means that it will get as hard as it can, almost as hard as soft iron, but far less abrasion resistant.

the second part sounds like your changing from knives to arrowpoints, if you want good arrowpoints, they're cheap to buy.
 
You can heat treat just about anything in one way or another. Cooking food, could be considered heat treating it :D That really doesn't have any bearing on whether or not a material is suitable to be a knife blade.
Aluminum just isn't a high enough strength material to be a cutting tool. It will deform too easily. Even broad heads like Muzzy's have steel blades, its just the body of the head that is aluminum. It has a high strength to weight ratio making it a good choice for arrow shafts and other structural peices, but its not going to hold up as a knife blade.
 
I thought xx75 was the arrow shafts diameter.???

How many can you get? And can ya send me a dozen?:D
Mace
 
I made this thread to find out a few of the limits of the aluminum available to me . I agree that arrow points are inexpensive to buy . I am not trying to learn how to buy things . The reason I chose to switch from knives to broadheads is no great jump for me . I have several broadhead knives . I mostly use homemade wooden arrows . The aluminum arrows available to me are mostly broken or bent arrows discarded on the range . It does seem like the general consensus is that no matter how the aluminum is treated it will not make a good knife or cutting tool or at least would be too limited in its application . Thanks for the input .
 
If you want to use your old arrows for knives, what you could do is melt them down and cast handles and fittings.
 
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