steel cutting?

[rachet197]

I have some already heat treated blocks of steel, that's about 10 inches long, 3 inches wide, and 1 inch thick.
How do you halve the thickness?
So you could have 2 blocks of steel 10 inches long, 3 inches wide, and 1/2 inch thick.

THX in advance!


BTW I am a total beginner to knife making.

 

[chad2]

first off you can never half the thickness exactly when cutting something it will always turn out smaller because of the size of the cutting tool. second why are they hardened? did you get it from something like maybe a leaf spring? if so i would suggest annealing it before you go and try cutting it in the most difficult part of the steel to cut. if it is from a leaf spring start a good sized fire where you can leave it over night and put the steel in the middle of it put some more wood or coal on top and pull the steel out the next day should be good.

 

[Beanman13]

My first question is, if you know, what grade is it? If you're not sure of the grade, how did you come by it?

I'm assuming you want to preserve the existing heat treat. Is this correct?

 

[Bo T]

What is the approximate hardness? what type of steel is it? If it isn't too hard you could take it to a machine shop and have them cut it for you, although it is probably cheaper to buy knife making steel. If you have access to a band saw and it isn't too hard, you can cut it yourself, if you have the right blade. Either way, you are going to loose (as noted above) some of the thickness to the cut (if the 1/2" is that important to you).

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

There is no cheap and simple way to cut hardened steel in half. If it is hardened and needs to be cut precisely, waterjet cutting is the best way.
If you are just trying to save money and use some found steel - waterjet cutting won't save you any money. Start with steel the size you want and harden it after shaping.