Lawn Tractor Blades

[cheftjcook]

A bit of help and Advice needed
I was at a garage sale and bought up about 6 sets of brand new lawn tractor blades for $2.00. Hearing different chatter about knives here I was hoping to try to make a knife Will these work well for forging a knife? they were cheap
but I am hopeful they are good for this.
My experience is very limited, I have made a few letter openers and a few knives of sorts from a rail road spike or two, neat looking for gift for hunting buddies but I don't know much about knife making so I don't think they were functional ?!
Can anyone give me some advice on useing these blades if they are indeed useable?
Maybe I am better asking for advice also on what not to do to!!!!
I realize I am not going to create a master piece as many I have seen here but would love to give it a whirl.
With a bit of good advice maybe avoid some pitfalls and common mistakes, learn something new and have some fun along the way.
Thanks
Cheftjcook

[mike-hr]

I reckon the first thing I'd do with them is see if they are heat treatable. Heat one end to non-magnetic, let it air cool. see if you can cut it with a file. Yes? heat to non-mag again, quench it in oil. Can you cut it with a file? Yes? Heat to non-mag again, and quench in lukewarm water. Does the file skate across and not cut so good? Then you have a warm water quenching steel. Next practice tempering. lay the piece on some hot blocks that just came out of the forge, and let the heat run up your test piece, untill the end just starts to turn brown/blue. quench in water to stop the tempering there. Sharpen the tempered end, and see what she'll take. pound it into a log, and see if you can wiggle it back out without it breaking. Didn't break? May be worth forging into a knife. Don't forge high carbon steel below a below a brite red, take another heat..
This is how I would approach an unknown steel, Lets see what others have to say..
Mike

[sqeezplay]

hhmm how old are the blades? because i know some 2 year old ones i have, are not steel, they are some sort of allow but i'm not sure what. they are extreemely light, but will take impact very well. they bounce off the anvil when trying to forge, so be carefull when they are hot. i have not tried forging them into knives, but i have straitened some that where belt, it took me quite a while. now remember, these are the 2005 blades, if you have like 1970's blades they will be something different. well those are my tips, keep in mind safety first!

[Hillbillysmith]

Cheftjcook, yes lawn mower blades are good for knives and hold a good edge and I know very personally with a big puncture scar on my right bisep. But like swqueez said, I was using blades that were probably 20-30 years old. Just do what Mike said and go through the heat treats. A short cut that I can tell you is to take a grinder and cut off a piece about 2 inches long and heat untill it is a bright orange and quench into cold water. Then set it on top of your vise and hit with a hammer like your poppin' a nail into a boad. Does it break? If so, your good to go. Just my 2 lincolns.

[Rich Hale]

The trail you have stepped onto leads to many places, And I do not believe there is an area to turn around. Myself I would not try used lawnmower blades as they may have cracks from use. However you have new. There is a section on here that deals with common found steels and I think it mentions lawn mower blades. In any case give the heat treat posted earlier a shot and If they lact like I think they will you have enough material for several blades, and They will come out nice as you make them. Bp # 0087 is about heat treating high carbon steels and is a solid reference. I keep a printed copy near by. Have fun...

[cheftjcook]

Thanks for all the information Guys keep it comming, Soaking it up like a sponge. I will get out the Garage/Forge later this week and will try the tests and let you know what happens.
They are new to me in the boxes but appear to be older by the condition of the boxes
Thanks again for the time and info it is appreciated looking forward to more.
Tim

[Mr Smith]

Please let us know..

I used to work in a place that threw them away by the bucketload. They were all thrown away in a cleanup.. love to know what I threw out... maybe not

[Woody]

if you will email me, I will send you about 20 pages on the properties of various junkyard steels and their suitability for blade making.

Woody

[cheftjcook]

Rich thanks for the advice I can see this could be addictive in a very short amount of time. But I don't think that is a bad thing!!!!
I am trying find the BP you made reference to #0087 but I can't find it.
Sounds like something I would need to read to better understand and do the heat treatments properly.
Thanks TIM

[Swamp Fox]

Go to http://www.iforgeiron.com, click on the yellow button that says blueprints. Rich got the number mixed up, it is BP0078 on metallurgy.