Steele from Home Depot

M

Michael_Schaap

Joined
Aug 23, 2000
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107
I am not sure what I have here... I went to Home Depot and got some 1/4 x 1 x 36" stock of steele. It is labled as Zinc. Hmmm... any idea what Home Depot sells??? I called them and of coarse they have not one idea..... thoughts....?

Michael
 
Well... if it's zinc, I have my doubts that its steel at the same time. All the hardware store steels are not good for blades. I have a bar of it lying around in my garage from when I was using it to practice grinding blades. I'd advise you not to spend money on that stuff. Just get bars of 1084 or 1095, they are cheap enough and they actually make a good knife.
 
As long as it's just mild steel it should be great for practicing your forging technique, but don't expect to make a good blade out of it. :(

Have fun with it,
Nick
 
It sounds like zinc plated mild steel. It's no good for blades, it won't harden enough. If you do forge it, beware of the zinc fumes as it vaporizes, nasty stuff.
 
I tracked that stuff down one day.
After 5 phone calls I got hold of the Wholesaler to Home Depot thet had to call to find out what type it is.
It is 1018 will not harden worth beans.
Use it for guard material or but caps thats all it's good for.
Buy some 1095 or 5160 from the local auto suspension shop. Or ask them for scraps they toss from the cut off ends of RAW springs.
Cheap and makes great knives if done right.
 
Hmmmm.... aparently this is why people also use files for knife blades...... I think in the time that I am waiting for the propper steele I'll go back and return this stuff I got and get a couple of files...... what steele are files made from???


Michael
 
Michael, files make good knives but beware of some of the import brands. Many of the cheap files are just case hardened mild steel and won't make a decent knife at all. Nicholson black diamond files make decent knives. Black Diamond files used to be 1095, but don't use new ones unless you have no choice or just want to. You could order new steel way cheaper. Go to your local flea market and look for some old rusty files that you can buy for less than a buck.

Guy Thomas
 
Originally posted by Silent
Michael, files make good knives but beware of some of the import brands. Many of the cheap files are just case hardened mild steel and won't make a decent knife at all. Nicholson black diamond files make decent knives. Black Diamond files used to be 1095, but don't use new ones unless you have no choice or just want to. You could order new steel way cheaper. Go to your local flea market and look for some old rusty files that you can buy for less than a buck.

Guy Thomas
Click to expand...

Is there a web site that will sell small amounts of steel to the public? Most places I have seen seem to sell in bulk. What do most people do for some of the standard supplies like brass rods, sand paper, fuel, and things like that, buy from local place or buy from an online store?
 
Not to mention all the knifemaker's supply houses. You can start with:

Texas Knifemaker's Supply

Knife and Gun

Jantz

Koval

There are others too. I've bought most of my steel recently from Admiral Steel with good success. Look on eBay for brass and bronze stock for bolsters and guards. You can find various hardwoods there too. Good luck in your knifemaking!

Dave
 
Michael,
Do what I do and go haunt your local pawn shops. Don't tell the SOB's your hunting for knife blade stock (they're likely to try to charge you more. Remember, a lot of pawn dealers are on the same level of lawyers and other pond scum:barf: ). Just tell them you wanna look thru their old files. I've found many older Black Diamond files I've paid as little as .25 cents apiece for.:D Depending on the person behind the counter, I've had to pay as much as a whole $1.00 for one!:eek:
Usually, I find them for around .50 cents though. Yard sales are another place to gather materials and sometimes TOOLS for dirt freakin' cheap!

Happy Hunting!;)
 
Originally posted by misque
Michael,
Do what I do and go haunt your local pawn shops. Don't tell the SOB's your hunting for knife blade stock (they're likely to try to charge you more. Remember, a lot of pawn dealers are on the same level of lawyers and other pond scum:barf: ). Just tell them you wanna look thru their old files. I've found many older Black Diamond files I've paid as little as .25 cents apiece for.:D Depending on the person behind the counter, I've had to pay as much as a whole $1.00 for one!:eek:
Usually, I find them for around .50 cents though. Yard sales are another place to gather materials and sometimes TOOLS for dirt freakin' cheap!

Happy Hunting!;)
Click to expand...

Are files already hardened steel? If so do you have to anneal it to soften it up enough to grind?
 
Yes. Files are hardened to the limit so that they can cut into just about everything. Technically you could grind one hard but it would be a bitch. Since I've never successfully gotten anything to aneal, I'll leave that part to another.
 
To anneal carbon steels, heat steel evenly with a torch or forge until a magnet is no longer attracted to it usually somewhere around cherry red. When heat is reached, bring it up just slightly hotter then bury piece of metal in lime powder. Fireplace ashes or portland cement will do in a pinch. Let it cool in the lime. It will take quite a while to cool off. It should now be as soft as its gonna get provided it was put directly in the lime and was completely covered.
Good Luck
Leonard

PS I would just buy some knife steel from admiral steel. Its cheap, already annealed and you will know exactly what your working with.
 
I'm new at this, what is the correct order of heat treating? From what I have read it would go like this, you shape and grind the blade to however you want it, do low grit sanding, heat it up - this were I am not totally sure do you want to heat it up quench it and then normalize and anneal then temper it? Or do you want to normalize, anneal and then harden it. It seems to make sense you harden it and then take out some of the brittleness by annealing it after wards. I just don't want to spend so much time and then screw up my first knife. Thanks.
 
If you are buying new steel it will already be annealed. If you are recycling steel you will need to anneal it BEFORE attempting to cut, grind, sand, or file it. Once you have the shape you want and the bevels done then normalize 3 times. I do all my blade straightening after the first normalize not before. Normalizing is heating to just above non-magnetic then letting it air cool in still air. once the blade is straight and has been normalized you can heat it up to just above non magnetic (try to heat the blade evenly-avoiding hot spots) then quench in warm (120f-140f) oil. That will harden the blade to its full hardness. as soon as it is cool enough to touch put it into a preheated oven at 450f for about an hour. Let it cool then heat it again at 450f for another hour. This will bring the blade back down to a usable hardness. This is just a basic heat treat that will give good results with most carbon steels. As you gain experience you will fine tune your method to suit your particular steel and needs.
 
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