/diy/ - Do It Yourself

>>1346916
>And the other half of a lawnmower blade.

So, mystery scrap metal.

>What are good sources of high carbon steel for knife making...

NJ Steel Baron in the US, Furnival Steel or Groundflatstock in the uk

> that one can find in a scrapyard?

Ah.
Then your answer is nowhere.

Scrap is exactly that. Scrap.

you do not know if its air hardening, or oil-quenched steel. Leaf springs may be 5160. but can be 1060, or even 4130. You have no way of knowing if its new, or its been cycled 1 million times on a truck hauling lumber over canadian gravel roads, and riddled with microfractures. Mower blades are normally mild steel, so they deform, not break, on hitting a stone in the grass. Recycled files may well be case-hardened mild unless you're specifically looking for a few specific brands. Railroad spikes are below 0.3% carbon by law - even those marked "HC".

Scrap metal is a fool's game. You don't know its alloy, you don't know what the right heat-treatment is, the right soak time, the right quenchant, or the right tempering time. It is literally the worst material to learn on - you are adding extra layers of variability to the process, when there are already enough unknowns from forge-working in using a specified steel grade. That's just stupidity. Save your time, ensure that you know exactly what specification your steel is, and just buy it.

You're wasting time scrambling round to find the material, and you have no control over what size it is. a 4 foot bar of 1084 will cost you about 10 dollars from the NJ steel baron, and if you honestly think that all your time wasted on unknown materials is worth 10 dollars, you're a fucking moron.

>>1315677
> what type of steel are mower blades usually i have access to unlimited blades to practice with

Scrap.
Scrap metal is what they are usually.
Dont learn on mystery metal, its just adding extra layers of variables to your work, when you need it least. Spent $5 to get some 1084, so you know exactly what your material is. its a no-brainer.

>>983450
>are made of 5160 or something

>or something

And that's your problem
Leaf springs are not 5160.
*some* leaf springs are 5160 - those from mid-90's Fords, for instance.

But what ford exactly? What about a Toyota Hilux?that's made in japan, they dont use 5160 over there. OR a Land Rover? that's not 5160, because that's BS ENxx spec steel. and so on.
Can you identify what brand, make, year and model a leaf spring came off? And then are you able to find the propietary data from the manufacturer of the design specifications? I doubt it.

You do not know if that one batch for that year's model was 5160, or something else entirely.

More importantly, is that leaf spring new, out of a spares bin? No. its off a wreck. Is it a replacement that was put on a week before it crashed? Or is it a spring that's been flexed 10 million times and that's done 500,000 miles on dirt roads hauling lumber? has it been thrashed? You cant tell. So your scrap may have tiny microfracture cracks all the way along it.

Only fucking idiots use scrap

>Decent blades can be made from mower blades.

Ah. yes, I see. you are a FUCKING MORON.

>>769889
on the contrary, you're encouraging bad practice.

you're saying "its ok, you're a special snowflake. You've gone and done something daft by not doing the basic legwork and instead running in without any preparation! you're so clever, Timmy!"

Its like if you were making buildings, and you got someone saying "I've poured my foundation using Plaster of Paris. That's sort of like cement. It'll be fine when I make my house?" and encouraging it.

That's not /diy/ - that's bloody stupid.

the very first step of knifemaking is to know what steel you're using. It is the thing that underpins every other element. You can stock remove, you can forge. Hell, you can sheape it with your teeth if you want. you can grind bevels for it on a belt, or with hand files, or with the hammer. you can make a whittle tang or scales, you can make it big or small.
But you have to know what metal you're working with, before you start. Not doing that is just plain stupid.

Without knowledge of what steel it is, what the metal composition is, you cannot properly heat-treat the knife.

You can polish a turd all you like, its still going to be a piece of polished shit.

helping people get it done right, is what this board is about.

>When someone is talking about a knife they've already made, and others are trying to help

It is not a knife they have made, and encouraging it does not help.
it is a knife-shaped piece of metal. It takes perhaps 20 mins to grind the stock to that shape, 30 at most. You've still to do the heat-treatment, the cleaning, the final grind, then assemble the handle, then make a sheath.

The basic blade blank is not a knife, any more than a pile of sheet steel is a car.

At best, its a practice piece for getting them accustomed to shaping metal, for the proper one.

Without actual knowledge of what metal that is, it will never be a good knife. is it 1018 mild? 4130 cromoly? 5160 spring? O1? D2? W1? 314 stainless? AEB-L? 12C27? Water, oil or air-quenched?

just buy steel stock.

buying files, or any "mystery metal" is just plain fucking stupid.

is it case-hardened? perhaps its air-cooled? no, make that a water quench. oh, no, its oil. What rockwell hardness after a temper to 270? No idea.

you dont make handmade leather bags out of old jackets. you dont make hallmarked silversmithing out of old coins. you dont make a wedding dress out of some old curtains.

why the hell would you make knives to sell, without knowing what metal they're made of?

go to Aldo Bruno in the US, furnival in the UK, dick herdim in germany, 1001 steel stockists and buy actual known steel stock for removal or forging, and make proper blades where you know what its made from.

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