Steel question

[monster]

At the risk of sounding insane...would the forks from a forklift be any good for making a blade? or are they just to hard?

 

[Doug Mondt]

I know nothing about the alloy of fork lift forks, but I've yet to see a steel that is too hard to make a knife out of. If it is hardenable then it can be tempered and thus made of some use in making a knife.

Whether or not it would make a "good" knife is another question all together.

It would be an interesting exercise to try to harden and temper a piece and see just what it does.

 

[monster]

Thanks for the info Doug, while cleaning out our barn last weekend I found 2 old forks from a lift we used to have and I couldn't bring myself to throw them out in the scrap pile. I'm very tempted to cut a small piece and test the steel.

 

[Knife Outlet]

Most likely the steel in the tines of a forklift would be too mild to be useful as a knife blade. They are made for toughness not edge holding.