Hi Guys

I was told about this forum very recently and I am amazed at how much of useful information is available, a little overwhelmed even

To be honest I do not own a forge, and do not really "forge" iron, but i like working with metal and fire

A few years ago I started to make knives using steel bars that I bought online, for stock removal mainly, with hand tools: that takes time, allowing me to relax and "develop" my design as things progress

That was already expensive (in addition to shipping costs everything imported is heavily taxed) but now I realized that there are "every day's materials" which could be sourced locally and are perfectly usable for knife-making, thereby contributing to save money and the planet at the same time

So, if you have suggestions I am all ears

Regards

KjB

Welcome from the Ozark mountains. There are many auto/truck parts that make good knives coil & leaf springs, torsion bars etc. If you know a repair shop or mechanic, most will save them for you. The thing about mystery steel is you need to forge it to basic shape & test it for the ability to harden.

Irondragon ForgeClay Works  Thanks
I know about some auto parts (leaf spring, etc.), but the problem is that I have limited means, not access to a proper forge (only a small one, during the summer) or even less to a power hammer, so the material has to be already in a usable shape, plate or bar

Welcome aboard from 7500' (2286m) in SE Wyoming, USA.  Glad to have you.

If you have limited ability to process scrap, e.g. uncoiling coil springs to a semi straight rod, you will have to be more selective in your stock picking.  For example, only small leaves from a leaf spring or parts from small economy cars.  Some scrap yards here in the US will cut longer pieces for you, either for free if they like you, or for a small price.  They often have to process larger pieces themselves.

Here in the US you can buy small pieces (35x4 cm) of carbon steel for knife making off of the internet for a fairly reasonable price.  I don't know if this would trigger Norwegian tariffs or not.

Also, you may be able to buy small pieces from steel suppliers ("drops" in English) which are the left over bits from cutting longer pieces.  You will have to get out and contact steel suppliers in your area (and you may have to go out of your area) about this possibility.  My experience is that you will get the most cooperation and success if you contact them in person or, at worst, by telephone.  Email and texts are much less successful.

You will probably have to be more creative if you are in a rural area than if you are in a city.

Finally, if you are making knives by stock removal you will still need a heat source to quench and temper the blades.  Most of knife making is bench work that does not need a heat source (filing, grinding, polishing, etc.).  Here in the US there are places that you can send a blade off to for heat treating.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

You can build a forge either solid fuel or gas affordably, an anvil and other tools can be improvised, your ancestors forged swords on anvils that weren’t much bigger than a sledge hammer head. 
breaking down springs and other stock isn’t impossible with a forge and some basic tools. 
there are plenty of Stingy people here who are more than happy to help you out. 
even easy low cost shelters to keep the worst of a Norwegian winter off you are in our wheel house. 
 
so let’s start with the basics, we need a forge, anvil, hammer and tongs. 
for the fist let’s start with available fuels. Coal, coke, charcoal and propane. What is available to you and what is your preference? What limitations dose your living situation impose on your forge?

 

I live in an flat, so no forge there unfortunately, and no hammering or noisy electric tools either

It is only when I am on holiday elsewhere in the summer that I can have a fire and heat treat

As for scrap yards here there are mostly European cars, with coil springs which are no good for me

I have to look for more accessible steel in more common locations

I heard about a list of things to salvage hardenable steel from, that was supposed to be maintained on this website, but I could not find it (only mentions here and there of some possible materials), any of you guys know about it?

We have an Eastern European smith who has a portable rig he hikes with, forging as he travels. 

we have had other apartment dwellers who forged in parks and other public or private spaces as allowed buy the owners. We have even had college students convert abandoned grills and forge out of them. 
as to power tools, knives can be made with hand tools, files, hack saws, sand paper, sharpening stones, etc. 

some times if we ask “ how can I” instead of “ why I can’t”  

knives are small for the most part and can be forged with a “Coffee can forge” 

as to salvaged stock. Old files, old saws, chainsaw bars, lawnmower blades, planner blades ( already half way to making a draw knife) etc work as flat stock.

automotive springs can be worked with buy placing it in a barbecue/ charcoal grill and building a wood or charcoal fire and just letting it aneal the spring. Then it can be cut with a good hacksaw blade. Now 1/2 a coil will fit in a coffee can forge or a small solid fuel forge (add a steady slow air blast to said charcoal grill) and you can straitened out the spring over a small anvil. From there the “knife making 101” thread will help you convert it the a knife blank. 
of corse let’s not forget the options of university and trade school shops, maker spaces, or smiths that may have space you can use. 
heck, Viking era reactors may be another source. Everyone likes it when re-enacting show up in the park… 

 

Most vans still have leafsprings for the rear or trailers.

On 2/25/2023 at 6:39 AM, KjB said:

I heard about a list of things to salvage hardenable steel from, that was supposed to be maintained on this website, but I could not find it

  Welcome.  You never know what you get with junk.  There are a lot of topics and advise on that on this forum as well.  You may have to scroll down on that page.

 

Having forged patternwelded blades using a hole in the ground, a carpenter's hammer, charcoal sifted from old bonfires and a chunk of RR rail for an anvil; I have to ask if your flat is on a boat offshore?   I've forged using a one soft firebrick run off a cheap propane torch as used by plumbers in the USA----in my basement!

Thanks for your advice and encouragements, lots of ideas of possible materials to use, now I have to see what is available and convenient

I do no live on a boat, however most of the building is made of wood

My knife making activities take place in a corner of the living room, so it has to remain quite tidy, clean and quiet, and obviously no heat treat there

Eventually we'll have a house with a proper workshop, and things will be different

  I gave up a "proper workshop" to move a thousand miles for someone I care about and now I work in a rut strewn gravel driveway.  I wonder what's worse, just starting out with nowhere to work, or losing the greatest shop and having nowhere to work?

Do you have access to an outside cooking/grilling area? Here in the US we have permanent grills in the city parks. 

Are you close to that someone you care about ?  The rest you can deal with.

  I thought twice about my reply and you are right so I edited it.  Thanks.

20 hours ago, Charles R. Stevens said:

Do you have access to an outside cooking/grilling area? Here in the US we have permanent grills in the city parks. 

That is difficult: with subzero temperatures and ice/snow everywhere half the year, then barbecue ban during the dry months, that leaves a very small window to make fires outside, which is when I do it

But that is not the main problem anyway, I survived that way until now

My main issue  was about sourcing material for knifemaking from common "objects"

Got ya. I was just trying to find a way for you convert non flat stock to usable knife blanks. 
 
I have seen smiths forge under or behind a canvas fly, or in enclosed trailers or one of a hundred other unconventional spaces. 

So good quality old files, if you anele them when you can are a good source of high carbon simple steels.
Saw blades are generally good medium carbon steels, tho some with carbide teeth won’t harden well. 

lawnmower and edger blades are generally medium carbon steels as are many AG (agricultural) steels

jointer and planer blades are generally good, as are hedge clippers and old machetes. 
as mentioned before chainsaw bars work well as well. 
 

Might want to check out how others in limited spaces work; Japan, Europe, etc.  I once built a single soft firebrick forge run by a cheap plumbing torch so I could forge in my basement during the winter.  Did the nails for a Mastermyr tool chest and a lot of hack silver.

An online friend of mine lived in a 7th. floor senior citizen condominium and had a compete knife shop that packed into a corner of a closet. His forge was a "bean can" and soldering torch. He made pattern welded billets and all his stock removal was by hand. He made beautiful blades.

Frosty The Lucky.

Thanks for your comments, but this is going in the wrong direction: my initial problem is not the forging itself or the heat treatment, but where to salvage hardenable steel in everyday's objects

KjB, as a one word answer to your original question:  "springs."  How and where you find them is up to you.  Small auto and old buggy springs are a good size for blades and are usually uncomplicated steel for heat treating.  There are other high carbon scrap things around but they are  often too large to use in a 1 person forge.  An example is bull dozer or earth excavator teeth.

GNM

trucks and/or trailer repair centers. Might be big and thick; but more luck finding leafsprings.

Also vans, most still use leafs on the rearaxle. 

Spirals springs are also good material; but they are coiled from round stock. So a bit more prepwork is needed before you can use them.