recycled steel

Some very good points have been made. There is definatly a certian satisfaction to be had from taking a old worn piece of steel and resurrecting it as a knife. You mentioned the spark test. I advise a quench test, also. If it gets glass hard, you've got something worth making a test blade out of, anyway.

Many who forge take pride in alot of stock reduction through forging, so odd and large shapes are not really a problem for them. For someone who is just beginning this craft, a rusty old nickolson file is not a bad place to start, and I dare say anything that will out cut it by much can't be heat-treated with a torch, a magnet and a toaster oven.... :)

Frontier damascus....yes, I like that term. My favorite has to be the blade Tai made from, in part, beer bottle caps. That, my friend, is something you don't see every day.... :D

Test every batch of steel you get, regardless of where it comes from. They do all look alike, ya know.
 
Tai's beer bottle cap knife was one of my favorites.
I had that pic as my wallpaper till my puter crashed.

no VS grinder and hyrdaulic press involved it that one either. :D

Wonder who has it now? :confused:
 
Several clients of mine have been intrested in having a knife made from various things because of it having a special place in their life. However,I always do a carbon test on the material befor making it into a knife. Once I made a bowie for a fellow from a piece of steel which came from a building where this mans dad had worked and retired from. It was owned by a telepnhone company and he bid (in an auction) on the building and got it. The handle for the knife was from a whitetail deer antler he had found while hunting on horse back in OK with a hunt club. I inlayed a gold pin in the handle which was presented to his father when he retired. The knife was representive of many years and experiences of this father & son. I have done this many times for lots of folks. One knife from a pole climing cleat (electric co.), a jail bar (county jail) which was very unique. Part of the pleasure for me over the years has been to search out various things and to transform them into another useful tool. I believe after one has made enough knives and worked with steel for a long time then he/she can tell real quick if there is a knife hidden inside. I have never had one to come back or acomplaint. To me it is like going treasure hunting...! I have a large assortment of hay rake teeth, drive chain, cable, saws (all types), and various other things. I also use and have a large assortment of "new steels"(?). Soooooo much steel, so little time...!

Ramsey
 
I've used scrap steel in the past and will still use some chainsaw chain, or cable (but this is new cable and after contacting the maker of the cable I know what its make up is). These are the only 2 reasons for useing scrap steel anymore, other then for tools.

I agree with Mr. Ealy about using nothing but known steel for knives and damascus. Now I don't care if you use scrap if you can get the specs and know what your dealing with, but to grab a piece of what ever and make a knife out of it , then sell it as a high quality steel can cause you ( and all knifemakers) problems and feedback that will ruin your knife business before it ever gets started.
The steel in a knife is usually the cheapest part of a knife, handle materials can be quite pricey, and when time figured to make that piece of steel into a knife, heat treat it, etc, your looking at several, several dollars in wage time, equipment, etc. lost if the knife is crap.
Like Mr. Ealy, I might have several hours (10 to 50 +) in making a bar of damascus, so I don't want any unnecessary surprises when its finished that you can get from dealing with a mystery steel.

Now if someone requests that a knife be made from a mystery steel, and you tell them it might be only as good as a show piece when completed. I guess thats could be a different story. But still remember, your name is on that piece, and who's hands that piece might end up in, in a few years might not know it was made just for show. Then you get bad feedback from a crappy knife. Its your business.

I know that there are excellent knives made from scrap, I'm not saying there's not. But as cheap as the steel is per knife compared to everything else factored in, is using mystery steel really cheaper.

Just my sorry 2 cents thrown in, so don't throw them back at me. :D

Bill
 
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