Off Topic Tribute Knife-Maul Head Suitable Knife Material?

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bmilla35

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The title pretty much says it all, but for those that want a backstory, here you go:

So, my Grandfather had a profound impact on both my cousin's and my life. Every summer, for a few days each week, our Grandparents would take us up to the family camp and we would do all sorts of fun projects/activities. Sadly, he died 16 years ago due to a rare blood-illness (and possibly Legionnaire's Disease, but that doesn't matter).

Now that we're getting older, and even realizing just HOW much he influenced our lives, we decided to try and commemorate him by making a knife utilizing materials from around the property. For the blade, we were hoping to use the head of a steel maul he crafted in the 70's that broke a few years back. We also plan on finding a nice section of burl to be treated as a suitable handle material. Anyways, I have been around the forums and watched enough tv shows (aka Forged In Fire) to know that not all steel is suitable for a quality knife. I would love to have a sample tested, and was wondering if guys had any good hints on where to get it done. Spark testing can't be definitive enough, right?

My cousin has a friend who can run a sample through his company for free, but it only lists the elements involved and lists them in descending order by weight. I don't know if that's good enough, or if proportions are necessary.

Any help in the matter would be GREATLY appreciated.

Thanks in advance :)

(Mods, I know this is off topic, but please know I tried this in another forum on the site before I posted here. It didn't get much love)
 
My .02 would be to maybe try a spark test on the steel to see if its high carbon or not. Not all are made from a high carbon steel. Some are a softer steel. A spark test is relatively easy to do. Just google the test and get a good idea of what sparks you are seeing. When I pick up a piece of scrap I will tap it on the grinder and see in a few seconds if it high carbon or not. Knowing the elements from the test could give you some idea of what kind of steel it is. Certain steel do have signatures that you could cross reference by percentage of total material. If you know the weight of the elements and the total weight of the sample you can calculate percentages and that could give you the exact type of steel once you cross checked that with knows steels. Please anyone correct me if I am wrong on that but it seems like it could get you ballpark anyway.
 
I'm assuming if you are starting with a maul, that you probably have 3 to 6 lbs of steel.
What I would do is take part of it, forge it in the general shape of a knife, normalize it, run two or three more grain refinement cycles, heat it to about 1550°F and quench in automatic transmission fluid or a fast oil. Grind off the scale and check with a file to see if it will skate. If it does, run a 375° F temper cycle and recheck with a file. If still hard do some test cuts and then try prying with it to see if it is too brittle. If not brittle, I'd use the steel for the knife. If too brittle retemper at 400°F and repeat.
When you venture into the unknown it's always an adventure.
Jim A.
 
Thanks for your responses, guys!

D DAMNENG : It's a HEFTY maul. The head is probably more like 6-8 pounds. Unfortunately, I don't actually MAKE knives. This forum just seemed like the most logical place to ask. I hear the members that frequent here are the most intelligent and best looking, anyways. What you said sounds GREAT, though ;) Honestly, it sounds fun. I know for a fact it would be an addicting hobby.

Ladams19 Ladams19 : Yeah, I guess that can't hurt. I will see if my cousin, who is across the state, can videotape it when he spark tests.
 
If you can send me a chunk of the maul, as large as your thumb or larger, I'd be happy to see if the stuff is hardenable.
Let me know if you need my address.
 
DAMNENG said:
If you can send me a chunk of the maul, as large as your thumb or larger, I'd be happy to see if the stuff is hardenable.
Let me know if you need my address.
Click to expand...

That's incredibly kind of you. I just spoke to my cousin, who would be happy you send you a chunk to check out if you'd be so kind!

Feel free to email me (my email should be linked to my account, but let me know if it isn't).
 
Chunk was sent off today :thumbsup:

Feel free to update the thread with the progress!

Thanks again, Jim.
 
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