Bill at Rusty Nail Forge

Also note the source/origin of the tire iron.  i have had some you could use for years and other seemed to be onetime use deals. The ones that come with the car(newer smaller cars dont come with em any more) tend to be on the lesser quality side compared to the after market ones.  

so to blanket state that tire irons are **** could lead you to a failed project in some cases.  

Recommendation:  get one...cut a piece off of it...spark test it....harden(quench) it with  water.  if its hardens your good to make what you were going to make .  if it doesnt, cool too...make something else. 

2 minutes ago, ThomasPowers said:

Ahh the only mention of 1030 on this page is yours; can you tie it into what it refers to?  4130 is mentioned earlier and is different than 1030.  I picked up the ASM Metals Handbook to check out steels.   30 points C is the cutoff between low carbon and medium carbon steels.

you are correct ...i miss read earlier.....disregard that post....

1030 as the numeric name indicates is only .3*% carbon.  This makes it ok for tools but less ok for knives .  Don't get me wrong they will harden a little.  below is a great article that defines this specific steel

ASTM A519 ASME SA519 SAE 1035 AISI 1035 Steel - AISI 1010 1015 1020 1025 1045 1018 1117 1035 1040 1050 1215 4140 4150 (tubingchina.com)