Johnny40 Posted September 23, 2015 Share Posted September 23, 2015 Hello everyone ! Now that I have everything to start forging, I wanted to know something. I know theres alot of people making railroad spikes knives but I was wondering if railroad steel is good enough for kitchen use (I know it is for general use). I don't know anything about type of steel and grade of steel so i was wondering if I could start off with that. (before making knives ill first try something easier) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anthony San Miguel Posted September 23, 2015 Share Posted September 23, 2015 Some railroad steel is great for knives or tooling. RR spikes aren't good for either. But I still enjoy forging letter openers and knife shaped objects out of spikes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnny40 Posted September 23, 2015 Author Share Posted September 23, 2015 But if I do make knives out of RR spikes, wouldn't i need some kind of coating to prevent the steel from rusting since its not stainless? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DSW Posted September 23, 2015 Share Posted September 23, 2015 Some of the sharpest kitchen knives I have aren't stainless. They get dried with a towel immediately after washing. If dry and stored well they don't rust. If they are some place where there is a lot of moisture, like down at the shore, maybe they get a light coat of cooking oil wiped on them to protect them in storage. Keep in mind stainless is just that, Stain.. less. It doesn't mean it doesn't rust at all. In many cases "good" stainless doesn't make for "good" knives as they won't hold an edge any where close to what a top quality carbon steel blade will. However many people are willing to have a blade with a mediocre edge to have a knife that doesn't take any real care to keep it "pretty". You'll find though that a lot of chefs who really like a good edge have "ugly" knives simply because they hold an edge well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted September 23, 2015 Share Posted September 23, 2015 I do not consider RR spikes as good enough for general use knives; it's right around the border between mild and medium carbon, a coil spring off a car will generally have *twice* the carbon content of a spike as well as other useful elements in it.There are knife grade stainless steels that can be forged but they generally really work better when you have a LOT of bladesmithing experience and many require expensive high tech heat treat to get the best from them. (and if you are not going for the best why spend the extra cost and hassle to use them!)I would suggest sourcing an automotive coil spring and cutting it on opposites sides of the helix to give you a bunch of "(" pieces and make several blades from them allowing you to practice forging and heat treating the same alloy a bunch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.