What's the best steel for knifemaking out of these?

[AlphaWolf]

I have access to files, leaf springs and coil springs and I'm not sure which one is the more suitable one for knifemaking.

 

- David

[the branch]

Hello there! Well... All are. Files generaly tend to be better suited for "cutting knives" like whittling, skinning, cooking etc. and the spring steel more for "chopping knives" campers, bowies, samiknives, and other choppers. (Since filesteel has higher carbon) So it kinda depends on what kind of knife you wish to make/how you want to use it. =)

 

Then again, I´ve made small fine knives with springsteel that worked very well. It has alot to do with the hardening aswell.

 

good luck!

[Steve Sells]

then again there are case harden files that are useless for knives,  Why dont you have a look around the knife section, read the classes, and referance material and you will have a little better start.

[Rich Hale]

The common thing in each of the above is that they have enough carbon to be made into a blade. How well that works out is strictly dependant on how the blade is heat treated. They can all be made springy or brittle. And if the heat treat process used is selected by the future use of the blade it can be a wonderful blade. That only be done if we know exactly the kind of steel we have and follow the data for that steel. Lacking that information we can follow a series of testing to find a method of heat treating the steel we have so we can make it proper for use.

All of this information is on this site.