Was getting the combine ready to go for wheat the last couple days, and had to rebuild the straw chopper. Got to changing the knives and figured I would save then to experiment with some day. Read on a old post on here that said the sickle blades on a combine were 1038 steel, so I took a grinder to a sickle blade, a chopper blade, and a file, and found the amount of sparks for the chopper blades was closer to the file then the sickle blades. Anyone else ever experiment with straw chopper blades? Go 40 strait blades out of the job.

We changed them out last fall and they were JD like your picture shows. Don't remember the part number. I did heat one up and hammer on it. Seemed to work nice. Bout all I can tell you. Never got back to it to see about hardening and tempering. Need to pursue it more, they're still in the scrap barrel. Ya got me curious again tho

I'm sorry I should have said they were chopper blades so you know what I'm talking about.

I have a box with about 50 pounds of different chopper blades. I have made several knives from them and they hardened well and tempered like 5160 so when I want to make a small knife I use them.