Saw blade steel?????????

[riddleofsteel]

I bought a knife from a gentleman at a flea market for $25.00. It is a classic shaped drop point hunter with a very unusual handle made of milk white plastic held on by brass threaded rivets. The spine is very thick and the blade is ground to a RAZOR sharp convex edge. When I questioned him about the steel in the blade he pulled out several saw blades from behind the bench. They appeared to be of the non-carbide variety, about 25" across. He told me they came from a saw mill and were the blades used to cut slabs into lumber widths. They are set up on a shaft 5 or 10 wide and spaced to the rough lumber widths. He said they do sharpen them but when the teeth get too small they toss them. He has stashed quite a pile for free.
He had about two dozen styles of blades from small swords to butcher, to fillet knives. I watched him shave small pieces of paper off of a sheet with one of the drop point hunters. Then he proceed to chop a 3" piece of oak firewood in two with it. After the chopping it would slice see through pieces off of a ripe tomato. It did not shave quite as thin paper curls from a sheet of paper as before but five or six passes on a leather strop and it was right back to doing it.
Well, long story short, I bought one and I got to thinking what kind of steel do you think I got here. It sure does the job.

 

[Jason Cutter]

I'm guessing from your description that the steel is probably L6 or 15N20. Medium-high carbon steels with about 0.7% carbon with a nickel content for toughness - quite desirable for making knives. Particularly known for its toughness and impact resistance. There is a whole group of knifemakers out there who specialise in working with this type of steel. Check out the absolute beauties made by Ray Richards using shear and sawblade steels.

ON some sawblade steels the steel could actually be something like 1050 or 1075 plain carbon steel, but these are usually for the carbide tipped blades. Still make great knives as long as the maker knows how to work with the HT to suit the carbon content.

From a critical point of view, I prefer a taller grind for better slicing. However, I take your word for it that the blade is very sharp and it would be also very very strong. Hope this helps. Jason.

 

[GarageBoy]

My dad had something like that. Also at a flea market for $50. It had black phenolic handles, painted grey. He thought it was high speed steel

 

[Jeff Clark]

A lot of people who make saw blade knives don't do any heat treatment. They just grind a knife shape and leave the blade mostly flat with a saber grind. This makes a very tough knife, but it is very soft compared to most commercial or custom knives. I would say somewhere in the high 40's or very low 50's RC. This is more of a bayonet hardness. You can have troubles getting rid of edge burrs when you hone these very ductile blades. If you see these problems elevate your honing angle to about 45-degrees and do about 10 light strokes per side, edge forwards, alternating sides. Then go back and do a light honing job at your normal honing angle.

You can test the blade hardness with a new file. If it is easy to sharpen the edge with a file the hardness is under 56 RC.

 

[panella]

I don't know about the steel, but I really like the design: proportion of handle to blade, shape of handle, shape of blade. In particular it looks as though the handle butt does not drop below the heel of the blade. This would allow the entire blade to cut on a flat surface - like a kitchen knife. Nice.

 

[OwenM]

I would think something like L6, as Jason said.
My great-grandfather was a knifemaker, and used sawmill blades for everything from small utility, and kitchen knives to combat knives, and daggers for troops during WWII (plus woodworking tools, dental tools, etc.). Some he ground, some were made like Jeff described. I don't know if he did any hardening, and have noone to ask.
My grandmother still uses some of his smaller knives in her kitchen. My grandfather had a bunch of them for shop knives, and they saw a lot of misuse.
Very simple, tough knives. Maybe not the best edgeholders, and certainly not very high tech compared to today's designs, and steels, with their poured aluminum handles, they take a patina readily, but don't seem to rust much after that, and some of them are still going strong after 60 years of regular use.

 

[golok]

Very interesting story. Coincidentally, a friend told me that someone he knows makes knives from chain saw blades.

Apparently, the outcome was quite impressive. He quenched the blades (heat-treated by blow-torch) in oil.

The results of his so-called amateur jobs were outstanding.

 

[brownshoe]

I have a small persian style blade made from a saw. It has a thick spine with a flat grind to a convex edge. I believe it was heat treated and it holds an edge like nobody's business. I paid $25 for it but never carried it. I put it in the kitchen after about 15 years. It's been used every day for about 9 months now. The knife has become a favorite of women and children. It's been abused and never sharpened, just rarely steeled. It still cuts a tomato.

I have been told that L6 was probably the steel for my blade. It will get a patina and it will also rust. However, if it has a high grit finish, it will be much more resitant to rust.