stainless? ?

B

blank space

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Aug 12, 2013
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How are is it to work with stainless l have 2 pieces that are 10.5" lonw and 1.5" wide and 3/16" thick. Would it be a good or bad idea to use for my first knife. I dont have all the power tools so it will mainly be done by hand. Any ideas would be great.
 
You should be ok, you will need to send out for heat treat, but most stainless works fine with hand tools, do you know what kind it is??
 
It is important to know the steel for HT
I made my first knife out of stainless with just hand tools
 
The type of stainless is important. It may not be martensitic and not hardenable.
 
Oh, green stainless, that clears things up.... Problem is, it will only work for making an izmel.

Seriously, the color on the bar end means nothing to anyone but the seller who stocked it, and may mean nothing to him either.
In stainless steel, you really need to know exactly what type you have, or you may make a useless knife.
 
Ok let me see if i can figure it out.. it is scrap piece i got from work. We dont buy the stainless we have a company that does it for us. They cut and bend it for us..
 
Dear Blank Space. Don't start working this piece of steel just yet. Unless you hear the word heat treating around your company a lot, this will be a piece of non heat treatable stainless steel.

Look for a piece of 01 steel, its not stainless, but it is a good beginner steel that is easy to hand work and very forgiving. If you have a Metal supermarkets or the knife makers supply web store of your choice. Buy a piece for like 20 bucks and then work this piece. Your time is worth more than the free piece of Stainless that may make a soft knife.

Good luck
FB
 
blank space said:
Ok let me see if i can figure it out.. it is scrap piece i got from work. We dont buy the stainless we have a company that does it for us. They cut and bend it for us..
Click to expand...

I'll bet you lunch it's no good for knife blades.

What what you normally use it for at your job? Are you making pipe fittings? Shelf brackets? What? That may give us a clue.
 
Thanks frank will have to go to the metal store down the road and see what they have. I will get the 01 steel and try that out.

I am a electrician i am building solar boxes for the oilfield well mounting all the hardware in them and sending them out.. so yea i never here heat treated around here. But it is soft enought to drill with hand drill or the press and use the same bit over and over.
 
Austinetic Stainless,non magnetic and won't harden.Good for guards and such only.

Stan
 
304 isn't any good for knives. You could use it for guards/bolsters but even that, I hate it because it work hardens.

James beat me to it.
 
Not a waste of time at all. You learned something.

Fill out your profile with the info and you might be surprised to find a knife maker right in your area. They could offer you some good knife steel as well as advice.
 
This is one of the best, if not the best online communities. People are very helpful here.
 
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