Steel I.D

FOG2

FOG2

Joined
Nov 1, 2007
Messages
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I have a some steel whose identity has been lost. Can a heat treater identify it when it is sent in?
Also where would you suggest I buy wooden scales specifically Bocote precut to thicknesses of 1/8 to 3/8 as I have no equipment to cut block's into these thicknesses.
 
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FOG2 said:
I have a some steel whose identity has been lost. Can a heat treater identify it when it is sent in?
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From a video I've seen Peters Heat treat has a gun that can read chemical composition. Not sure what the charge is, may give them a call and find out. Video at 10:57

 
Problem with checking steel with a PMI gun is it tells the alloying, but n0t the carbon content. 1030, 1095, and 1084 may look the same to the gun.

Your posts is a good example of why you need markers all over the shop. When you cut a piece of metal, mark it and the stock bar. When you grind the bevels, mark the tang on both sides. Some folks stamp the steel type in the tang. When the blade is ready fro HT, mark it on both sides with a white paint marker pen. The white lettering may turn dark, but will survive even stainless HT. It has to be ground off post HT.
When you are done with the final sanding on the blade, mark it on both sides of the tang.

If the steel type is important to the blade use or as a sales tool, etch the blade on the ricasso with the steel type. You can get a set of etching stencils made up with your most common steel types.
 
I have the markal paint crayons laying all over my shop, everything has what it is written at least twice

If it's only marked once, it'll somehow be removed
If you write it multiple times none will ever disappear
 
kuraki said:
I have 83 markers in my shop. The problem is I can't ever find any of them :confused:
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They're in your junk drawer and under sandpaper and rolled under your toolbox, oh wait, that's where MY markers are.

I mark my cut off pieces of sandpaper too. For those finer grits that are hard to distinguish. Most of its marked on the back, but it's inevitable when I cut strips, the numbers aren't on the leftover scraps.
 
Geoff Flato said:
I have the markal paint crayons laying all over my shop, everything has what it is written at least twice

If it's only marked once, it'll somehow be removed
If you write it multiple times none will ever disappear
Click to expand...

Geoff is spot on. I re-mark everything as soon as I grind it away.

Brad at Peter's can't mistake my blades. They have my name, the steel type, sometimes the customer's name, and any notes on placement of hamon, etc. When they come back from HT all that is still there.

I used to mark both side of both ends of a bar with a sharpie. It worked good enough. But, I have pulled out an old bar that was rusted as heck,and had to hunt a bit to find one good marking. Since switching to paint markers, I have never had a mark rust over to be unreadable.
 
So the answer is NO the steel can not be I.D.ed,at least not cheap and easily??
Oniel I am feeling better as long as I don't do to much, which has been hard for me, being off work for so long while healing. Thank you for the thought.
I have been a bit to active assembling a new shop ( it's really just a corner in the garage) to begin working on knives agian.
 
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