What are some rarer alloys of steel or iron that are forgeable

What do you mean by a rare alloy? I don't understand your question. What is an alloy in your opinion?

~Jobtiel

Sorry should have clarified better. Uncommon types of steel or iron and what they would be used for

Why was the rare alloy created in the first place, and for what purpose?  That should go a long way in answering your question. If it is indeed a rare allow, how are you going to obtain that known alloy and at what cost?

Why not choose a known metal that suits your project?

Bayviewforge, if you type 'forgeable steel alloys' into your favorite search engine; Google for example, you will get more information than I can read in a month. 

Seriously, I looked it over, and it will completely cover your question, no matter how you phrase it.

Happy reading!

Robert Taylor

Rare is not a good criteria; you could easily make alloys that are unique; but not as "useful" or "economic" in the greater world.  Put some platinum in your steel and add some radium for example. Or use meteorite!

The common steels are common for a reason.   If you want to get unusual stuff to forge may I recommend pattern welding.

Knifemakers sometimes use steels that are uncommon. They tend to be expensive, difficult to work and extremely picky about heat treat---and if you don't heat treat them right you often lose the properties that made them blade worthy in the first place.

(Look into powder metallurgy and "hot isostatic pressing" for instance.)

I got a 3'' x12'' block of titanium i'm tying to come up with an idea of what to make whats that stuff like to forge, any ideas or just a waste of propane.

Titanium is really good in corrosive environments.  That is why you see diver's knive made of it.  Steel would be a better blade but unpainted/coated steel and salt water don't play nicely together.  Ti is also very light compared to strength.  So, that is why you see it in air and space craft.  And it has very cool and vivid oxidation colors which make it desirable for jewelry.

I saw a pair of Ti tongs which would have been nice because of their light weight but the $100 asking price was too rich for my blood.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand." 

To quote another member, “thunk, thunk, tink!” 
get it hot and it will let you know when it’s to cool to forge. 

what alloy of Titanium?, there are very few pure Titanium blocks around

I have no idea the alloy it was given to buy a fellow welder i'm tempted to try a knife but i got to to look up the workin heat, quench and tempering specs to get a general idea. I think i'll use 1/4 the material just in case i run into technical difficulties if anyone has forged ti chime in.

I know that you are talking about forging, but I will add that certain machining operations that can cause Titanium fires if not done properly.  Not all Titanium alloys are harden-able by heat treatment.

I bought some grade 2 awhile back for a project and while at temperature if forged very easily, but got hard quickly as it lost color. It also really didn’t want to be filled at all!

I had to opt for a heavy wire wheel finish and only sanded/polished decorative sections. Now that I have a belt grinder I would probably use that for finish such a part, but Ti sparks are really bright!

Keep it fun,

David

After reading the ti section on the form and not knowing the alloy i think a knife is out of the ques my luck it would be the non harden able alloy i got. So its butterflys and dragonflies maybe i don't know i'm goin to have to do some searching and pondering cause i don't want to waste this material.

Just as it is often suggested with mystery steels, you could make a couple sample coupons to test for hardenability.  My ASM Metals Reference book listed some that are "age hardenable".  However, I do not know what that process is carried out.

Thks Lee thats the way i'm leaning doing a test first when i get some time its salmon season up here so i been out fly fishing alot.

"Age hardening" (also called "precipitation hardening") is a process whereby microscopic particles of other metals form within the crystal lattice of the main metal. In titanium, for example, these would be aluminum and vanadium. The formation of these tiny particles increases the yield strength, as they inhibit the movement of dislocations within the lattice. 

This aging is usually done in a furnace at high temperature, but can happen very slowly at room temperature, depending on the alloy. I watched a video from an MIT professor of metallurgy some years back, in which he noted that precipitation hardening over the last hundred plus years had actually increased the strength of the aluminum-copper alloy of the engine block in the Wright Flyer.

I forged a self hilted Ti camp eating knife; worked fine for that and if it got forgotten in the trunk of the car I could boil it for a week with no issues!

We're working on a Ti hammer just for fun...

Ti eats abrasives; but look up how to anodize it for the colors.