Will gun barrel steel work for a knife blade?

ohen cepel · Aug 14, 2004

Title pretty much says it.

Was just thinking that it would be cool if possible. Put some of the shot out barrels to another use.

Is it possible? Could it be used in a damascus if not by itself? Has anyone done it/tried it?

Thanks for the info!

Waxes Eloquent · Aug 14, 2004

Ohen,

They can, depending on the steel involved. Rob Patton at http://www.pattonknives.com I have one of his minigun damascus pieces, and it's as funcitonal as it is beautiful.

~W.E.

ohen cepel · Aug 14, 2004

Thanks for the info!

Oddly enough, I have a Patton Ring Hilt "sticker" here that I was considering selling/trading. Need to look into his other stuff.

Thanks again for the info!

mete · Aug 14, 2004

Gun barrels are usually made from 4140 steel.While a nice steel it doesn't contain enough carbon to have good edge retention.Yes you could use it in damascus along with a higher carbon steel, that would be better.

Danbo · Aug 14, 2004

Like Mete said, gun barrels by themselves would make a pretty crappy blade, but combined with a good high carbon steel would work ok.

nozh2002 · Aug 14, 2004

You may put inside the barrel some high carbon scrap: pices of files etc. and hammer it to flat - kind of mosaic damascus. Sombody on CKD tried this once at least.

Thanks, Vassili.

Gwinnydapooh · Aug 15, 2004

I've got a cruddy old Spanish .32 in parts dad gave me in a bag years ago--I strongly suspect the parts aren't all there from my test-fittings, and most of them are severely pitted anyway.

What if I forged an old automotive coil spring down into a straight "pin" to fit inside the barrel? Could pour flux down it to fill in the minute spaces, rifling, etc.

Do you think that would weld well, with two big chunks trying to weld along such a big surface? Once you got it to weld, you could flatten, fold, notch, or cut it any way you wished.

If this worked well, junk barrels would be cheap and plentiful.

I've needed a project to get back into smithing. I think this will be it.

drjones · Aug 17, 2004

Duane Dwyer made several sweet knives out of old minigun barrels.

CW Doc · Aug 17, 2004

I remember reading some where that 98 Mauser barrels were tested at .70/.75 carbon. I just went through several books but can not find the reference. I would think that it would depend upon which barrel you have. Testing time??

rev_jch · Aug 18, 2004

More than likely, if it is not a stainless blade. Any kind of stainless will more than likely become "streaked' or uneven, or not at all. Ive blue blades before, it helps if you warm them up just like you would with a gun barrell.