Hello all. I have some A706w rebar and am wondering if it would be any good as blade steel in some woodcraft knives? this is the weldable grade 60-80.  I have searched many sites looking for the carbon content and properties and while ive learned a lot about rebar and concrete no luck on other uses. Can anyone help me out with some info or sites with info.

Thanks, Vaden

Rebar typically is made to a mechanical specification as opposed to a chemical composition. Rebar is like hot dogs, made from all of the left over bits, and floor sweepings 

Yes typically, however this is a706w bar the same steel as seemless weldable pipe as used for boilers and such. so it is not random metals along its length like regular rebar.

Your probbably just going to have to forge it down to blade thickness and test it. To see how hard it gets, how to heat treat it and how it acts as a blade. Unless you can contact the manufacure and fing out what they use to make it. Some time they will list it in their we site unless its prepriatary, then you would have to ask the metalergist how to treat it . 

Pipe isnt usualy high C.

You really need to test the piece.   Each piece of rebar is its own world.   Two pieces from the same bundle may be entirely different in character.  Using rebar is always a "Learning Experience"

for my 2 cents that rebar is made to flex / bend not brake this means it has alot of duckabilliy  sp- ?

I think that would be a problem for a knife won't harden much ???  Test a small piece first 

That cheep stuff from mexico has plenty hard in it, i think its rail, lol

I found one reference that specifies A706W as "low alloy" compared to the 3 other standard grades so I would suspect it to be a poor knife material.  However--as others have said you never know until you give it a shot.  Make a test knife and if it doesn't work well, "put a groove in it and call it an ashtray" as Bill Cosby said in is 60's routine regarding making stuff in shop class.

 

Found a listing of the constituents including carbon content http://www.portlandbolt.com/technical/specifications/astm-a706/

Carbon max = .3 and carbon equivalent content (weird comparison that's complicated) = max .55

Edited October 27, 201510 yr by Kozzy

Thanks! forged out a knife and short sword ran out of light so testing will have to wait