saw blade steel

[takao]

I was wondering what type of steel they use in metal cutting saw blades the size is 18"x2". and if this metal would make a decent knife blade.

 

[Hagar]

If it is the same stuff I played with a while ago (industrial Hacksaw blades) I dont know what type of steel it is.
I do know that it is extremely hard, rusts easy, and the teeth are made from a different steel.
The toothed edge of the blade would not take the blueing and I could see the joint line.

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There is no such thing as "good enough", either your work is good or it is not. How is your work?

 

[takao]

hagar how did you knife come out? were you able to sharpen it?

 

[johno]

I think that a lot of hacksaw blades are 'bi-metal', typically M2 or something similar with a back of high carbon steel.

 

[takao]

thanks Johno.

 

[AchimW]

If you want to know what type of steel they are, just remove the colour of the blade. If it is a bimetal blade, you will see the joint line just above the saw teeth. If there is no such line it is normally a blade completely made from high speed steel like M2. It is extremely hard to grind a knife blade from such a saw blade, especially because it is nearly impossible to soft anneal the blades and reharden them afterwards. On the other hand, with annealing temperatures up to 1000 F you may grind the heat treated blades without damage. And the knives made from them are hard to sharpen, but will hold an edge for a very very long time. Some older guys here in germany told me, they made kitchen knives from old hacksaw blades in the 40's and 50's and most of them said it was the best kitchen knives they ever had.
Don't expect to do a mirror finish on them.

Achim

 

[takao]

thanks for the info