Wood Planer Blades - info

M

MultipleParadox

Joined
Aug 25, 2006
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61
Hi folks, just been wondering about this for a while
My father in law has started playing and making knives, nothing too serious but very functional (mainly fixed blades and maybe 2 or 3 folders)

He's using "stainless" wood planer blades (professional ones, not the mastercraft thing you find at home hardware if that changes anything), and my question is this: how good of a blade this can be and what type of metal could it be really?

Thanks for your insights!

O.
 
I read "somewhere" that planer blades "are" D2. What does that mean? Nothing at all. Your blades could be a whole bunch of different things. If they're all the same brand, and you have 100 of them, it might be worth getting them tested. Otherwise, you might call the manufacturer and ask them, or buy some known steel.
 
K that's about what I thought, thanks for your reply!

(in any cases, they cut like hell :| But I don't know about durability, yet)

O.
 
I assume you're talking about power planers .They have to be good steels for that use but I don't know what type. Top of the line HAND planer knifes are A-2 and the standard ones a high carbon type.
 
Power Planer yes
All I know is that it has to be some high-speed steel (ain't it?) but apart from that...
I'll try to ask him some more info when I'll see him.

I know he gets the blades (used, around 12 inch or maybe a bit more) from on of his brother that have a planer (or at least work with one)

O.
 
I was given some planer blades that were new and made a few knives from them. Its hard to work with but makes a good blade, I made them about 3" blade length since they are pretty hard and somewhat brittle. The guy that gave them to me wanted some shop knives for car body work. I made all with a tanto grind, hidden tang inserted into the handle. I think I have some pics I can post later if you want.
 
i started off on my first knife (n0 actually i tried a mower blade) with a planer blade. the guy said it was A-2. He said dont need no nothing just grind er down. So 15 hours later i finally got something that looked like a blade. I didnt know what annealing was back then!!-thanks marekz
 
Power planers usually use D2 or M2 blades from what I have read about them over the years. If they were supposed to be "stainless" I would guess D2.

Many wood turning and carving tools and hand planes use A2.
 
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