Well I'm working my first knife

[Cowboy Bob]

Well I have my first knife under way Its taken a little to get the time to get started but I'm happy with what i have so far. It's a half a horse shoe its small but it has a good weight to it. the question is what is the best way to harden it I don't know it it will because I don't know what kind of steel it is and I have never done it. In horse shoeing school all we did was quinsh in water. I know that it will harden but is that the best. Thanks for the help As soon a I leand how to put pictures on this thing. I'll post a picture of it.

 

[Will52100]

I'm afraid that if your makeing a knife out of a horse shoe, your not going to have much luck, from what I understand horse shoes are made out of mostly mild steel.

One way to tell is to heat a section up to non-magnetic and quench, then break it, if it breaks like glass with a fine grain, it'll probly make a good knife.

Hope this helps

 

[Reg ELLERY]

Bob
Keep going with the shoe it is good practice. Some are able to be hardened to a degree. Some are just soft. I sell my soft ones as letter openers at the art gallery for $25 they mark them up to $38

They sell so someone must like them. Like will5200 said you can test the shoe by heating up the end red hot or non magnetic and quenching it. It would pay to do that before you start forging the shape so you know what your going to end up with. A knife or letter opener. The diffence is that you can sharpen any steel razor sharp. It is just that soft steel will not stay sharp when cutting hard substances. The edge will also fold over if thin.

I have sold over 200 letter openers made from various mild steel bolts railway spikes wire. If you pick the market you will be fine just as long as you tell people they will not hold an edge for genneral cutting. I normally give an information sheet outlining the history of the metal. It goes well at tourist locations. A lot of people want to by a suvineer from the area not mass produced overseas with a local sticker on it. For me the goldfields are great lots of old steel with history.

 

[Mike Hull]

Originally posted by Reg ELLERY
For me the goldfields are great lots of old steel with history.

The goldfields? Reg, do you by chance know Errol Meredith(Goldfields Botique Lumber), and David Brodziak?
If so, please tell them I said hi.