Tim_

Thank you for the insight Irondragon. Mill scale is probably right on the money though I've never seen it in the form of steel rather than oxide. I'll be making several large knives for yardwork/camping and a few smaller projects.

Please excuse the newbie question. I bought two bars of 1084 (3/16in x 1.5in x 18in) online and they came earlier today, but with what appears to be a series of cracks or defects on the 18in x 3/16in surfaces. They do not (visibly) appear anywhere on any other surface. Does anyone who buys steel regularly know if this is something superficial that occurs as part of the processes used to create the bars or something I should return the steel over? In other words, is this something that I can grind away and hope for the best with? Return policy states that I may not return anything that has been altered in any way and I was unable to find any other people asking the same question so I am posting here. Thank you for your time and apologies for any mistakes I may have made regarding this post.