Knife steel to prep or not.

[strahd71]

Jake, my earlier reply came out a bit "salty". My apologies for that. Primal knifemaking is one of the few areas I'm passionate about with the distribution of free information and my my passion on it gets ahead of me some times.

i'm sorry for my response also.

i wonder if we both learned to defensive on the same forum?

jake

 

[.356luger]

http://http://www.anvilfire.com/FAQ-article.php?bodyName=/FAQs/junkyard_steel.htm&titleName=Blacksmithing%20and%20metalworking%20FAQ%20from%20anvilfire.com

Googled the tip of the iceberg for anyone curious.

 

[strahd71]

It's all good, man. I didn't think otherwise.

I'm not yet even close to "constructing" it. It most likely be the size of a 5 gallon bucket - but who knows.

But all info like yours is vastly helpful.

I'm not really striving for the SHTF metalwerking skills, I'm more into the fun/educational angle of it - that could be used in necessary times (however unlikely). It's not like metal working is some new thing that started in recent years, right? Some knife makers would love for us to believe that they have discovered advanced new processes that only they know about, but most of that is malarkey - even if their worst knife is better than anything I'll ever make.

the SHTF part was more for the OP sorry for the confusion.

as to the last part. as like many things there are many ways to things and everyone thinks their way is best. well i dont really, despite my snarky response earlier.

Timinmishawaka is 100% correct there are guys out there who can take crowbars, rebar, discs off plows and files and make fine knives. there is no arguing this. but the guys who are having good results usually have good experience before hand or have years of trial and error. trial and error can be a real pain in the butt and it can also provide valuable learning experience if once has time. using unknown items and scrap such as leaf springs and assuming that they are 5160 have its draw backs too. inconsistency is one. alot of leaf springs for example are 5160, but not all of them are. you could forge a knife out and find out its just crap steel. its happened to guys before. also with used leaf springs there is the potential for stress cracks in the steel, after all its a leaf spring. its a chance you take, my guess is hundreds of thousands of knives have been made from leaf springs (no i dont have proof just a guess) and i am sure the majority have been fine but many makers on knife making forums will tell the stories of finding cracks, not the kind of cracks from heat treat mind you but lots of tiny little cracks.
So Tim isnt wrong in that sense

i presented the info i did, because i felt based on the posts before hand that there was a limited amount of first hand knowledge by the Op and others. not saying this is bad or i am looking down on anyone. so i went the route i did because i felt it would take much of the guess work out of it if you guys tried it. for example if you used 1084 it works at this temp, heat treats at this temp, tempers at this temp. etc. the info is out there and relatively easy to find.

in the knife making world you learn to be defensive, everyone is awesome in the sense they almost all are willing to share knowledge, but they all will beat the hell out of you if you dont do it their way, and i think Tim and I both kind of reacted in that way.....

i took his "my friend....." as a slight because you always hear about how someones friend or grandpa took a lawn mower blade (most are junk) and made a knife that would skin 20 buffalo and was quenched in a mixture of tears of a virgin and panther ****..... and the panther was alive when collected of course.

and i assume Tim thought i was saying what i was posting was the only way....... and i didnt want to come off that way at first

read read read, watch you tube and keep asking questions. its how we all learned.

jake

 

[strahd71]

You were thinking how to make a cocky comment rather than ask how you might learn how to scrounge metals. You mention 5160. One of the sources of 5160 is the steel used in leaf springs of Ford trucks since the 1950s. Find a post 1950s Ford truck in the Junk yard and you will have all the 5160 you need.

Want to learn more? Be nice.

i did mention leaf springs ya know like even before i was cocky

i love the internet!

jake

p.s. discaimer just in case............... i was joking well kinda i did mention leaf springs tho in my original post

 

[strahd71]

ok at this point i guess i dont have anything of value to add so i am bowing out of this thread.

to the OP sorry it got out of hand.

to the guy with all the ball peen hammers........ thats a lot of tamahawks if you can beat them down!

to the guy who wanted me to change my picture....... dont hate me cause i'm pretty..... there are plenty of other reasons

Leash..... build a forge, beat metal have fun!

jake

 

[TiminMishawaka]

i'm sorry for my response also.

i wonder if we both learned to defensive on the same forum?

jake

Primal Fires, Sword Forum (actually that's pretty dead now), Don Fogg or another one? lol It's all good buddy. Knife making is one of those highly opinionated worlds where we have to bark at each other and sniff before we're friends, lol.

Btw - I don't know what that shipping from NJ is costing you but you're about 2 hours or so from Admiral Steel in Alsip. The reason I still have a lot of this barstock in my house is I went to AS and bought about 2-3 hundred dollars of 1084 and 1095 and haven't run out of it yet. It's easy to buy way more than you could ever forge through unless you go at this full time but going to AS saves you on shipping and I've run into steel costing twice as much as it needs to for the mere fact of shipping alone.

Tim

 

[TiminMishawaka]

i did mention leaf springs ya know like even before i was cocky

i love the internet!

jake

p.s. discaimer just in case............... i was joking well kinda i did mention leaf springs tho in my original post

Yeah I don't know about other auto makers just that Ford is the only one I've heard from multiple sources is consistently good 5160 on everything they made from early 1950s to today. A lot of Rangers in junkyards from thinks like kids who might have done things like owned them as their first car when they were 17 and maybe tried something like jumping a creek with them and it almost being awesome.