What type of steel is armour plating made from?

J

J.D.

Joined
Feb 12, 2006
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342
I had a table set up at a small gun & knife show this weekend, and was ask about making a knife from a piece of armour plating from a Humvee. I told him I would have to know what type of steel it was, before I could tell him yes or no. Does anyone have any idea what type of steel it could be. Thanks in advance for all responces. J.D.
 
Damn Jim, you're Johnny on the spot aren't you?

.32 carbon is about half what it would need to be to make a good knife. It would harden, but not hard enough for what most people consider a good edge. My guess would be in the 40s or low 50s max. Yes you could make a knife, no it wouldn't be a very good one.

Impressive joules energy absorbed and % elongation. Looks like it would make good armor (heh)

If the guy just must have this, you could have it made into a san mai with a harder grade (1095 perhaps) in the middle. That would be a seriously tough knife.

Ping Ariel Salaverria!
 
Our range once had some long range targets made
of T-1 armor plate...."don't have specifics.
 
Could you create a damascus out of it that would keep the spirit your client might be looking for? I'm guessing this is a serviceman looking to keep a bit of his history. Either that or the ultimate mall ninja!
 
Nathan the Machinist said:
Damn Jim, you're Johnny on the spot aren't you?

.32 carbon is about half what it would need to be to make a good knife. It would harden, but not hard enough for what most people consider a good edge. My guess would be in the 40s or low 50s max. Yes you could make a knife, no it wouldn't be a very good one.

Impressive joules energy absorbed and % elongation. Looks like it would make good armor (heh)

If the guy just must have this, you could have it made into a san mai with a harder grade (1095 perhaps) in the middle. That would be a seriously tough knife.

Ping Ariel Salaverria!
Click to expand...

I deal with a variety of steel all the time. The machinist get all the tool and shafting steel stuff. We get the wear plate, heat resistant and bang on it stuff. lol. A while back we cut up a 1/2"x 8'x 16' sheet of inconel 800. Think they paid about $60,000 for it. Hangars for piping in a furnace.
 
Thanks to all the replies. Yes Icehawk, my client is the brother of a serviceman, who was in the humvee that was hit by an ied, he is ok, and he would like a knife made from a piece of its armour, which most likely saved his life. He said he would never use it so he really didn't care if it would hold a good edge.
 
Even so, if it were me, I would still lean towards a san mai with a high carbon core. I'm of the belief that a knife should work as a knife, whether a wall hanging or not. How cool would it be to pull a knife off of your belt and explain that it's a hand made damascus blade made from a high carbon steel forged together with armor off of a humvee you were in when it was blown to S$#* as you're using it? More interesting than pointing to a knife-shaped piece of hummer armor that's sitting on a desk if you ask me. A knife should be a knife.

--nathan
 
silver_pilate said:
Even so, if it were me, I would still lean towards a san mai with a high carbon core. I'm of the belief that a knife should work as a knife, whether a wall hanging or not. How cool would it be to pull a knife off of your belt and explain that it's a hand made damascus blade made from a high carbon steel forged together with armor off of a humvee you were in when it was blown to S$#* as you're using it? More interesting than pointing to a knife-shaped piece of hummer armor that's sitting on a desk if you ask me. A knife should be a knife.

--nathan
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My thought would be Yes, possibly a damascus or SanMai billet of it if you can pull it off (I would wonder it some of the elements that give it great energy absorption and elasticity properties might make the welds tricky to impossible, the low carbon is going to raise your weld temp, as is the nickel and Cr, I'm not sure what the sulfur is going to do , but it might have the unfortunate effect of making the whole mess a little red short, or not. If you have a bit to mess with you could try diffusing carbon into it (sealed container with steel and hardwood charcoal at high temperature for several days)
You could jacket it in SanMai fashion over some of Aldo's 1084, I think the ease of welding that could overcome some of the issues with the low carbon in the other. Failing that, you could make the blade out of the 1084, and the fittings out of the Humvee armor.

-Page
 
if you can pull it off
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There's the sticker. I'm sure there's a reason we don't see many armor jacketed san mai style blades. Could be that it's hard to come by; could be that no ones really ever thought of it. Could be just plain impossible. I'm not a forger so I can't speak for it. I just know what I would like to see. Using the armor for fittings is also a great idea that could overcome the edge holding or welding short-falls and still achieve the desired outcome.

A neat project no matter how you look at it. Let us know what you decide to do!

--nathan
 
ib2v4u said:
Think it is Mil-A-46100

for an idea on comp of armour here you go

http://www.winfa.sk/pdf/ARMOX_500T.pdf

http://www.bisalloy.com.au/files/specs/BisplateHHA.pdf
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The specs on the first steel are a little complex with a bit more chrome and moly and a little less nickel, but are along the lines of 4340 and that stuffwelds in damascus just fine.
The alloy listed in the second link is even less alloyed and so should be even easier to weld.
If the stuff you got turns out to be closer to the first alloy, my advice would be just don't overheat the stuff, the moly makes it a bit red short for forging, but it shouldn't be much worse than O-1.
Thanks,
Del
 
a friend of mine works at remington steel where they are cutting the armor plate for the new humvee on a laser table. i asked what the steel was and i do believe he said it was cold rolled steel 1" thick. i will ask him again just to make sure.
 
My sister in law now works for a place in Nevada that does testing on you guessed it Humvees and other military vehicles. Yup they even blow them up. Main problem is the wheel wells form a blast pocket. I will call her and see if I can get some information, maybe even a few pieces of the stuff. The plate probably is colded rolled, but, it is mill spec armor plate not just low carbon plate. I have worked a couple types of AR type plate. It is more of a hassle than mild steel.
 
i just talked to my buddy. the plate is cut out in cincinnati and is tough steel but not good for a knife. the parts he cuts out is what holds the plate in place. after the plate is put in place the inside of the hummer is covered in kevlar.
 
There is multiple layers of armor with different material dependent on if it is Frag 1-4 or Frag 5 level uparmored and some vehicles come with different armor such as the 1114 vs 1151 as the 1151's come already with frag 5.

Frag 1 has aluminum as armor, frag 1 armored kits only will not leave the FOB.
 
ib2v4u said:
My sister in law now works for a place in Nevada that does testing on you guessed it Humvees and other military vehicles. Yup they even blow them up. Main problem is the wheel wells form a blast pocket. I will call her and see if I can get some information, maybe even a few pieces of the stuff. The plate probably is colded rolled, but, it is mill spec armor plate not just low carbon plate. I have worked a couple types of AR type plate. It is more of a hassle than mild steel.
Click to expand...

I'd give it a try if I can get a piece :cool:

Ariel
 
A fun project with too many unknowns and a customer that any1 of us would feel guilty charging too much. Stock removing 1" plate is too much fun, you'd probably want to forge it ... or may be mill it down @ work. If it is a simple cold rolled you would not have problems cutting off a strip of it and going at it. If carbon is really low and the knife needs to have any utility function, you can explore case hardening (carburizing)
 
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