Hello everyone, it's been a while since I've been on. Have been mostly working on remodeling our house the last few years, so not much time for forging unfortunately. I was recently given a LOT of bar stock that a friend's uncle used to use for knife making. 

It is all flat bar shaped, but already ground and has a bevel and is sharpened on one side as if it is a blade for something like a large jointer or planer. 

They are all etched with a logo "HOE" and their slogan "Experience, Technology, Innovation" as well as "Portland, OR. (503)234-9501" and "WC 120"

I have found based on the phone number a likely company Pacific Hoe Saw and Knife Co. though they are out of business. I have also found one reference to WC120 (assuming that is the material) on a website ZKnives com which gives the composition but is not terribly helpful otherwise.

 

Looking to see if the material could be useful at all for forging whether it be tooling or knives etc.  Currently browsing their site on the wayback machine but wondering if anyone else has experience or has heard of this that could point me in the right direction?

I found an eBay listing for "NOS Set of 2 - Pacific/Hoe High Chrome WC-120 Blades 15"x2"x5/32""

Post-WWII, a lot of planer blades were made from high-speed steel. I'd say try forging a bar or two and see how it behaves. Alternately, since they're probably already hardened, you could simply grind them to shape, being VERY careful not to overheat them and lose the temper.

If the analysis on the ZKnives site is correct, there isn't nearly enough tungsten or molybdenum for it to be HSS.  A whole lot of carbon and chromium, though. 

Thanks for the input, it's good to have some thoughts from others with more experience. I did manage to find a brochure on the MGF's site archived on the wayback machine that mentions all their blades are made from a proprietary high carbon steel alloy. Considering these are from pre 2000 and likely even a decade or two older than that I am guessing they are not any sort of crazy high tech alloy. When I have time to light the forge I will mess around with one and see how it behaves and report back in case anyone else ever comes across some of these.

I would try stock removal prior to forging them. Just have to keep the stock cool as not to lose the temper. Forging may be a challenge as I found out with some mystery steel, it turned to the texture of cottage cheese above a certain heat.

I can’t control the wind. All I can do is adjust my sails. ~Semper Paratus~ USCG 1964-1970

I had that happen the first time I tried to forge O1. Above a certain temperature, the extra chromium precipitates out of the crystalline structure and basically acts as a lubricant between the grains when the metal is struck. Given that these blades are high in chromium, I’d be willing to bet the same thing is likely to happen here. 

The specs are in the general neighborhood of D2, so forging advice for that might be a good starting point (if you decide not to play it safe and stick with stock removal.)  Of course, analogies like that don’t always work, so there could still be surprises.