What Steel Could This Be?

Big Chris

Big Chris

SAHD/Knifemaker
Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
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Apr 1, 2010
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I recently got an old hand saw from my dad, he got it from his dad, to make a couple Ulu from.
After checking things out and testing the hardness, it was only 45-46 Rc, I decided to do a quick simple heat treat.
I thermal cycled a couple times and then brought it to non-magnetic and quenched in a slow-medium speed oil that I use for O1.
As you can see from the picture in my link I got a 66 Rc reading right out of quench.
I tempered at 375 and that only brought it to 64, a second temper at 425 gave me 62 Rc.

Link to pictures on my Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/p/BrV1jJlAJRy/

I have not done any real cutting with it yet, only a little bit in the kitchen.
At only .050" thick it cuts very nicely, and gets a screaming sharp edge.

Any ideas would be appreciated.

Big Chris
 
1075 is pretty common for quality hand saws. I’ve read of some using 1% carbon simple steels. Typically Japanese saws.
 
Might be 1090 or 1085. In any event, it’ll make a great blade with some experimenting. I tried a few in 0.040” thickness. Warped like crazy, so I’ll subcritical anneal the next ones. Very fine grain. Heattreated well at 1475f. Rc66/67 out of quench.
 
ten-six said:
Not to sound like an ass but with the results you gotdoes it matter? Those numbers sound great to me!
Click to expand...

The numbers are great, I was extremely surprised to see them that high.
I would have been pleased to finish with a hardness in the mid 50's.
I have never used unknown steel before and was just curious if someone might know what the old saw blades were made from.
 
The modern handsaw makers use 1075/1095, so I would guess the same. Old handsaws were kept at medium-to-low hardnesses to aid in toughness and resharpening. You may have a steel with more manganese than is typical for modern 1075/1095 or your cross section is thin enough that a medium oil works for it.
 
MBB said:
The modern handsaw makers use 1075/1095, so I would guess the same. Old handsaws were kept at medium-to-low hardnesses to aid in toughness and resharpening. You may have a steel with more manganese than is typical for modern 1075/1095 or your cross section is thin enough that a medium oil works for it.
Click to expand...
Any of the 10xx steels will do fine with slower oil with the exception of 1095.
 
The stock is only .05" thick.
I used the slow oil first to see what would happen, if it didn't get hard I would have moved to Parks 50.
A simple carbon steel is what I was hoping for.

Did some cardboard cutting with it yesterday and it performed as expected.
Super thin stock aided in the effortless cutting.
I saw edge degradation pretty much what I would expect with as thin of an edge as I put on it, .006" before sharpening since it was meant for kitchen use.

I excited to make another knife from it, and my dad brought me another over yesterday.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BreGsMBl9Wu/
 
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