Stainless For Guards/Bolsters

colu41

colu41

Joined
Dec 24, 2014
Messages
1,598
Awhile back my brother brought me a good 20 lbs of 1/4 by 1 1/2" pieces of stainless. All about a foot long. I've made 2 bolstered knives from this and I have yet to use it again until now because the stuff is so hard to work with. I asked him what type of stainless it was and he wasn't positive, but thought it could have been 316. So with that in mind, I went ahead and annealed it, according to 304/316 data sheets. It seems to drill a little better than before, but still a bear when it comes to putting a slot in a guard. My #3 jewelers saw that I use on all my brass guards, barely even scratched this stainless, even AFTER I annealed it. I had to drill a 3rd hole, and completely file it out. Could this be an oddball stainless? That maybe I just didn't anneal properly, not knowing the type. Or is all the accessory stainless just that hard to work with? I would love to use it more but, it took me hours just to slot a guard. :grumpy:

What type is normally used for this application?
 
300 series stainless is going to be harder to machine than 400 series no matter what you do to it.
 
Makes sense. I'll have to check it with a magnet when I get back out there. Whats the difference between 410 & 416? Since I can get a 6 x 12 sheet of 1/4" 410 for $23. Yet a 1 x 12" bar of .25" 416 is $20.... Just curious.
 
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