shaun Posted April 13, 2008 Share Posted April 13, 2008 i am currently trying to make a macheti out of an old saw mill blade, it is about 2 1/2 ft long and 5mm thick, since it is a saw blade i am guessing it is carbon steel but it seems quite flimsy, i was wondering if i could get an instruction on how to harden it so it is more ridgid or, if it will even get ridged due to the lenth of it,but i am hoping for some advice, thanks shaun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
son_of_bluegrass Posted April 13, 2008 Share Posted April 13, 2008 Does the saw have carbide teeth? If so the body could be almost anything. If not then it will probably heat treat like L-6. If you are familiar with spark testing, that can give you an idea as to what you're working with. Otherwise make some samples from the blade, something around 8-10 mm by 3-4 in (hey, if you can mix units so can I), to try different heat treat methods on. Keep enough records of what you did to each sample so you can do that to the blade. ron Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shaun Posted April 13, 2008 Author Share Posted April 13, 2008 i am not sure if it is carbide teeth but i would assume that it would be since it is a mill saw, but maybe not, thanks you for the info i will give it a try Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rlarkin Posted April 13, 2008 Share Posted April 13, 2008 If it has carbide teeth, you will see individual pieces of a different metal brazed on the tips. I manage a lumber yard, and we have a Re-saw that uses 24' blades. We use bi-metal blades that are disposable, (so I get a LOT of scrap), because they break quite often, and and the carbide tiped blades are expensive. Let me tell you, that when a blade breaks, and you are anywhere near the saw, it is scarry. I have fabricated a cage so that when the blades break, they are contained. I have seen a 24' long 2 1/2" wide piece of steel wadded up like a piece of tin foil. I dont get much scrap out of those. We have about 5 blades sitting in the mill waiting for me to cut up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shaun Posted April 13, 2008 Author Share Posted April 13, 2008 thank you for your comment, i just gave it a loser inspection and now see the layer where the carbon starts at the teeth, and good idea on the cage you made, i wouldnt want to be anyware near a mill blade when that thing comes flying off at mach 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matt87 Posted April 13, 2008 Share Posted April 13, 2008 I'm guessing you are trying to give it an edge-holding ability? Machetes are supposed to flex a moderate amount in use, due to the hard use and abuse they are put through. They're not supposed to be massively hard for the same reason. What are you wanting to cut with it? Long long blades like this are generally for cutting grasses, shorter ones for chopping, like a parang or, even smaller, a leuku. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shaun Posted April 13, 2008 Author Share Posted April 13, 2008 yeah good point, il just be cutting trees and various wood so i guess it is good to have some flex. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quenchcrack Posted April 14, 2008 Share Posted April 14, 2008 Shaun, Take a lesson from the swordmakers: build some distal taper into the machete blade. It will put a lot less strain on your wrists when you are using it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shaun Posted April 14, 2008 Author Share Posted April 14, 2008 what is distal taper? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nett Posted April 15, 2008 Share Posted April 15, 2008 A sword blade tapers in two different areas: distally and in profile. Distal taper refers to the thickness of the blade. It will usually be observed that ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted April 15, 2008 Share Posted April 15, 2008 Actually european sword blades used to taper in 3 directions: Width, Length and Thickness. Why so many reproductions handle like crowbars; they lack the tapering found on the real swords. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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