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I Forge Iron

"Rebar knife"


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A friend wants a rebar knife.  rebar butter knife? Ok.  Rebar letter opener? Ok.  Rebar knife?  Not so sure.  So some options are weld a blade into a socketed rebar handle.  Epoxy a blade into a rebar handle ala stag handle.  Hammer weld a carbon blade to a rebar handle.  Or make a mold and take some 5160 or 1080 round stock and make the real steel appear to be rebar.  I like the idea.  I'm not thrilled with the challenge. I don't make wall hangers so it must be real world usable.

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I did a 30 second search for rebar specs and as I figured from what everyone else has told it is a crap shoot. It's not so much what's in it its more about it doing a specific job. According to astm a615, which I found referee to on a rebar manufacturers website, you're lookin at about .18-.25% carbon content on a standard piece of rebar. Some of the tougher ones are a little higher but not much. I don't see any mention of rebar even close to a 1090 spec.

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The palaces in the Abu Dhabi,  UAE are built using s/s rebar , the Off cuts were often used to fashion kitchen knives, they were a lot of work but worked well and looked quite 'snazzy' I believe some of it sourced from the USA.

Steve , I think you might be surprised at just what gets used in some specialty rebar:)

Edited by ianinsa
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The palaces in the Abu Dhabi,  UAE are built using s/s rebar , the Off cuts were often used to fashion kitchen knives, they were a lot of work but worked well and looked quite 'snazzy' I believe some of it sourced from the USA.

Steve , I think you might be surprised at just what gets used in some specialty rebar:)

anything is possible but generally the higher the carbon content, the more brittle a steel is, defeating the purpose of Rebar.   People do not  normally pay more to make it less effective and more likely to break,   stainless is for other reason, mainly corrosion resistance.  If the client wants a rebar knife, make him one, dont bother to HT, its for looks anyway.  have fun and make them happy, while you make yourself money.

 

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Raymond Richard made a number of rebar knives that gave at least decent performance.  Most of them were done over 10 years ago, so finding pictures is limited.  He was specifically using American-made grade 60 rebar, which apparently (according to what he was told) meant .6% carbon.  Do a Google search for his name and "rebar knives" and you can at least turn up what he said about them, if only a few pictures. 

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Years ago a friend of mine was stationed in Germany while in the Army.  He needed a cold chisel and got a friend to forge one out of a rebar cut off.  He found that it was the best cold chisel he ever had.  He was still using it when he opened his auto repair business,

One thing I learned while in industry.  There are specs for everything the Army/Navy/Air force does, They often bear no relationship to any other spec. 

Have to assume that rebar can be almost anything. 

Edited by Charlotte
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Exactly, rebar is made to a minimum performance spec so as long as it has a minimum tensile strength and modulus of elasticity it's good to go. It can be stronger and is WAY stronger sometimes. Using rebar effectively is a good way to hone your practical steel use identification skills. Rebar tends to be more unpredictable than A36 so learning how to spark test and heat treat test it is pretty much a must unless your projects aren't in any way strength critical. For instance stakes to hang pea strings from can be anything so untested rebar is dandy but making a ladder for the barn or a grappling hook for search and rescue?

Rebar is a crap shoot unless you know how to test it and even then it can be iffy.

Frosty The Lucky.

 

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They who? and where in the Ukraine?  perhaps Honduras? while I see no real reason for making rebar from 1090, and plenty of reasons not to, the world is a large place.

it's something that one of my old bosses told me about when i was working in a steel shop. they also make it out of stainless for government buildings.

 

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