Someone has tried commission me to make a set of craftsman wrenches into a steak knife set. Does anyone know what type of alloy these most likely are? I explained to the customer that there are likely better steels out there, but he wants what he wants.

Steaks knives don't usually require serious knife steel. As I recall Craftsmans were forged from Vanadium steel but it's been a long LONG time since I paid any attention to reading the part other than the size.

 

If you're going to forge wrenches MUST be very careful as they're chrome plated and chrome is very toxic under the right conditions like say forging hot.

 

If the customer wants the chrome you'll need to strip them and have them polished and re-chromed after forging and heat treating. do some research and include the process in your bid + a handling fees.

 

No joke. This is a perfect example of selling bragging rights. Nobody would even consider wrench steak knives unless s/he wanted to show them off and brag a little. Nobody brags about how cheap something cool was. They WILL brag about expensive custom made things were though.

 

Frosty The Lucky.

Well since I'm trying to get my name out there, I guess this is a good opportunity. I greatly appreciate the info.

Do a Google search on Bruce Evans, knifemaker.

Bruce used to make a few knives from crescent wrenches. always telling folks they were just junk and not real knives. Think he charged $50 for them.

I make a few knives from RR spikes as trade goods with some of the shops that allow me to pick through their scrap.

Bill Cottrell made some spike knives adding a piece of good steel in the split spike- pretty darn good knives.

There was a local challenge to build the best spike knife- won by Dave L. He made a spike from Damascus and then used that for his effort!

I have an 18 inch busted Crescent wrench in the shop by the air hammer- may make a junk knife, or not, or a tomahawk, but I see it sitting there quite often, Usually makes me smile.

 

Experiment.

Play.

Have a good time.

ENJOY!

I don't know about holding a razor edge, but most steak knives are serrated anyway. I would say forge them out then a bit of filework on the edges and you'd have a fine set of cutlery

Pics