Making a knife from a cold cut blade?

[Jinx]

I make a living as a saw filer, and the shop I work at has piles of broken blades sitting out in the scrap bin. Sooo lucky me, I have an endless supply of saws to choose from to fuel my new knife forging obsession.

Just the other day I came across a beauty 14" HSS cold cut with only a 2" chunk missing out of the side (I would post a pic but I'm sure most of you know what they look like)

Now my question is, is it possible to make a decent blade out of high speed steel? Does it need any kind of special heat treating or would I be able to cut, grind, give her a sharp edge and call it a day? I'm not looking for anything fancy, just maybe some small blades to practice with/gift to people.. Unless that's crazy and this is some good stuff to make something decent.

 

Thanks!

[TheoRockNazz]

Give it a shot. A quick glance at tech specs tells me it could be a couple different types of steel, some would make decent blades. Anneal that sucker and start cuttin some blanks from it.

Before the real curmudgeons get on you about it; have you already read through the new knifemaker stickies?

[BIGGUNDOCTOR]

Probably best to do a stock removal. HSS heat treating requires a really good oven. 

[BlackMetalViking]

I've made 2 blades out of old pruning saw's. All stock removal. I made one small kukri out of an entire saw blade, and then made a type of karambit out of a smaller piece. They hold an edge very well, and aside from the little spring in the kukri, both perform exceptionally well. I'll try to remember to take some pictures to post for you if you'd like to see them. 

Viking

[ThomasPowers]

HSS really requires a professional heat treat set up to get the best from the steel.  However you can generally do stock removal on then with not as much concern on overheating as on a plain high carbon steel.