ironwolfforgeca Posted September 18, 2009 Share Posted September 18, 2009 A customer wants a home made knife, heat treated its made from a Lg circular lumber mill blade 1/4 tc . MY ? is what kind of steel this mite be & how do I heat treat it ? knife is 1/4" x 16" bowie style THANKS Steve @ :confused: Steve's Welding Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcraigl Posted September 18, 2009 Share Posted September 18, 2009 Steve, My understanding is that they are often L6. Not sure if that's true or not. Mikey has made several knives out of it and they've all hardened nicely in an oil quench. Not sure what temp. he's tempered too. Do you have a spare piece / scrap? Maybe tell the customer he needs to bring you a scrap then do the 'ol junkyard ht test on it. That'd probably be the safest/best way to proceed as nobody is going to be able to definitively tell you exactly what alloy the blade is without a whole bunch more information I suspect. Mike L. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted September 18, 2009 Share Posted September 18, 2009 Most band saw blades are L6 anymore but I don't know about circle saw blades, they don't have to have the flexible strength and resistance to work hardening of a band. Yes, getting some samples to test is a must, he should have plenty to spare. If he can provide the manufacturer and model number of the blade you can contact the manufacturer and get the specifics of the alloy. This would minimize the need for testing but probably not eliminate it. Frosty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evfreek Posted September 20, 2009 Share Posted September 20, 2009 Hi. I picked up a free 26" circular saw blade whose teeth were mangled beyond repair. It spark tested as 15N20. I have comparative coupons. It is interesting; the cheap carbide tooth blades for big box store table saws have a spark that is nothing like the big ones, and it is low carbon to boot. But it is not mild steel; too much chromium. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pkrankow Posted September 20, 2009 Share Posted September 20, 2009 Cheap blades are not meant to be resharpened, so in order to make a disposable product the body is a lesser metal, and I wouldn't be surprised if the tooth is more about the coating than the underlying metal too. Phil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brucegodlesky Posted September 20, 2009 Share Posted September 20, 2009 All the blades I've had specced were 10xx series plus 2% Nickel. These were all 52-56 inch blades. Only blades that remotely resembled L6 were some old dragsaw blades. Get a couple pieces and do some experimenting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sandpile Posted September 21, 2009 Share Posted September 21, 2009 I have made some really good knives from circuler blades(big ones) and some really nice ones from Starrett reciprocating hack saw blades which are HSS and will get as hard as wood-pecker lips and wear better than you suspect. Great round knives from the circle saws. Cut them out with a hot/wrench, just over size the cut and grind/forge back from the burn line. If the circuler saw has carbide tips--I chunk it. I triple norm them and quench twice/over mag and temper twice/375. On both steels. Checking with a good edged file. I come across some Tech-Nite blades from Capewell that had laminated edges. Pretty tough to make any thing but straight knives--- like paring knives. chuck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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