For A Forged Blade What Would Be A Good Steel.

Being as there isn't much action in the knife-making section, I figure it will be ok to dig up a year old post (will only move up 5 lines). I just wanted to put the info out for anyone else that may be hunting for suggestions. For forging a knife, I prefer good 'ol 5160, 1084 (as suggested above), 1095, W1, W2...in that order. If you are serious about forging blades, I would suggest taking a class at one of the American Bladesmith Society(ABS) schools. I took the intro to bladesmithing, and it was excellent. I gained years of knowledge in a matter of 2 weeks. The Master Smiths that teach the classes are great guys and knowledge is shared freely, just like on this website!
 
I'v had good luck with old circular saw blades.
*G*
 
I have built a forge and will be just playing with some projects. as far as for knife making I have heard o1 used a lot when machining knives, but would it be good for forging? I have also hear old files but what would I order if I ordered the steel on line. would 4140 work? does not need to be top shelf but usable.
Mark
Old chisels for wood , concrete or steel , round headed punches , pickaxe heads , Road drill tools ends , coiled truck or car suspension strut springs cut to 4 inch lengths heated to bright yellow not white ( white means you've burnt it & it won't be as strong as it could be) and forged flat are all good metals to forge. Once you get them to a reasonable flatness arc / mig or tig weld them as a sandwich with an odd number of sheets , heat and weld by hammer & heat ( proper forging ) , cut in half & repeat . You will now have a Damascus quality slug of metal that will forge fantastically and give you a brilliant knife complete with the Damascus streaks / grain in evidence when it is lightly ground & polished up .. Temper to light to medium straw along the cutting edge after normalizing & quenching by setting the almost fully polished blade on a bright red hot slug of cast iron and quench in oil as soon at the colour reaches the cutting edge .
It will also polish well and keep a great edge for much longer than most single slab cut to shape & ground out metals .
This hardening & tempering is the way I hardened & tempered things in our blacksmithing workshop area where I often re forged & re tempered cold chisels for cutting stone or steel by hand & hammer and remade pneumatic road drill chisels /points & pick axe head points & blades etc .

If your feeling really posh & have money to spare , industrial wrecking bars , crow bars , nail extractor bars & jemmy bars are all a good source of instant quality high carbon steel & various steel alloys .

My ancient info banks in my neck top computer seem to recall that till about 1968 the files/ rasps most old carpenters /farriers used s & a few early 1900's metalwork bench fitting files were made of wrought iron ( high carbon ) and did indeed make for good knives , more modern metal work files tend to be cast steel / cast steel alloys and can be very brittle & difficult to temper unless you have an induction ring to temper things with after the forging and just before the final polishing. .
 
I have built a forge and will be just playing with some projects. as far as for knife making I have heard o1 used a lot when machining knives, but would it be good for forging? I have also hear old files but what would I order if I ordered the steel on line. would 4140 work? does not need to be top shelf but usable.
Mark
A lot of the knife making forums suggest 1094 as a very workable steel that is good for beginners to heat treat.
 
Older thread, I know... but for posterity
1084 is traditionally used to get used to doing heat treats. It is probably the most forgiving and easiest to get a very good treat.
When I first started making knives, I contacted an ABS master bladesmith and asked him "can I send you a blade for destructive testing".
His job was to break it and examine the grain structure, ensuring that it was consistent clean through. It passed is inspection and I went to
work. That was two years ago. Now I use O1 almost exclusively and am working on a Damascus recipe that uses O1, 5160, 51200, and 15N20.
Research first. Measure twice, cut once. ;)
 
Haven't time to read this whole thread. But,01 or W1 are fine for forging knives. W1,plain carbon steel,has been used for thousands of years,albeit with unknown amounts of carbon in it before we understood chemistry.

Leaf springs,railroad spikes and 4140 do NOT have enough carbon to make a decent knife. They cannot get fully hard,and even if they DID,they have too little carbon to have decent wear resistance.

DO NOT try using A2,D2,or any of the AIR HARDENING STEELS. They will decarb badly in the open air. So will ball bearing steel (52100). 52100 will make a very good knife,but you have to forge it thick and grind it thin,to get rid of the decarbed skin. The blade needs to be hardened and tempered while it is STILL THICK FORGED. Then,grind the blade to shape and thinness. I made my favorite pocket knife from a large ball bearing ball. It is a great knife. But,did decarb during hardening. Had to be ground thinner as I said. You can expect to have about 1/32" of decarbed steel with any air hardening steels.
 
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Easiest to harden and get to know heat treats are 10xx series (like 1084 or 1095) or 5160.

While my favored steel is O1, it also requires a soak time at temperatures. 10 series and 5160 do not require soak.
Be cautious also about having your steel "in the flame"! Retained austenite can be an issue. And remember that thin
sections of the blade will heat much more quickly than thick sections. And on steels that require a soak at temperature,
if you don't get that soak right, you may as well be using a 10 series rather than the more expensive steels.
 
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