aparadi Posted December 26, 2020 Share Posted December 26, 2020 Hi all. I have some .125 inch x 12" x 1.5" 1095 stock (bought some blanks for knives), but I'm thinking of making a machete. I was going to forge out the tang and would have to draw out the rest of the blank which will result in a pretty thin machete. It's only going to be used for fairly light camping type work. Which I believe means I'll need some pretty springy steel. Will 1095 work for what I want? I'm new to forging and knife making, so I have limited tools, but let me know if there is anything else I should consider? I have quenched my other knives with Canola Oil. I'm unsure how well it worked. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deimos Posted December 26, 2020 Share Posted December 26, 2020 It is listed as hard but brittle, so for a knife it is good enough, with a machete I think either the edge will get damaged fairly quick or if will just break all together. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted December 26, 2020 Share Posted December 26, 2020 What about trying one first with 5160 leaf spring steel? Easy to source and a good alloy for a hard use blade like a machete, especially if you do a differential temper on it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aparadi Posted December 28, 2020 Author Share Posted December 28, 2020 Thanks We're in a lock-down right now, so getting different steel isn't as easy as it once was. Maybe I'll wait until I can get it more easily and make something else instead. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted December 28, 2020 Share Posted December 28, 2020 5160, often used for leaf springs in cars, is generally sourced at mechanics/car repair, scrapyards, junkyards, and best---places that do lifts and lowers on vehicles and so may have springs that do not have 100K+ miles on them and incipient fatigue cracks. I once had a student who worked at a place that built trucks into ambulances; they threw out spring sets with 16 miles on them! Just from the dealership to the conversion shop. I would look for nice thin ones as they would be less work than massive thick ones. I used to buy drops for knives at a place that actually made rfeplacement leaf springs back 30+ years ago. And please don't use the "at" sign! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aparadi Posted December 30, 2020 Author Share Posted December 30, 2020 Thanks Thomas! I'll check with my mechanic so see if they have anything! Sorry for the @ option - why do people not like that? I don't get notifications from iforge when someone replies, so I thought that the @ would help with that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted December 30, 2020 Share Posted December 30, 2020 If you click the little "Follow topic" button at the bottom of the page, you will get an emailed notification whenever anyone replies to a thread you're following. A couple of years ago, I had the good fortune to use a really sweet machete to chop up some branches and small trees. It wasn't anything like the massive chunky things you usually see, but with a very thin (~1/16" max) blade that was flexible without being sloppy, held a great edge, and was quite easy to swing for a long period of time. While I haven't attempted anything like it myself since then, one thing that was REALLY clear to me was the critical importance of heating the blade evenly for the heat-treatment. I can just imagine how a hard or soft spot in that expanse of thin blade could really change its performance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aparadi Posted January 2, 2021 Author Share Posted January 2, 2021 Thanks JHCC! Sounds like making a machete is the perfect project for my second ever knife and a "forge" that is only 1 brick deep I'm not expecting great things from my final result Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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