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The Newbies Arena Are you new to knife making? Here is all the help you will need.

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  #1  
Old 07-16-2014, 09:37 PM
darrylbiscuit darrylbiscuit is offline
 
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1013 steel

I have a chance to get a good bit of 1013 steel for free, but I can't find much info on it. Would it make a decent blade? Any reason not to try some of it?

Thanks!
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  #2  
Old 07-17-2014, 06:16 AM
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Not knife blade steel, too low a carbon content. Great for fabricating different stuff in the shop, but not knife blades. Get something in the 1070 to 1084 range and learn the basics with it. Do a bunch of reading here of past postings and you will understand why it is most recommended for the beginner/novice.


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  #3  
Old 07-17-2014, 08:28 AM
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Ray Rogers Ray Rogers is offline
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As Carl suggested, buy some 1084. Check with alphaknifesupply.com for some 1084 or 1080 They have great prices and will sell very small amounts.

At this point in your knife making experience you should avoid 'free' steel, especiall salvaged steel like files and saw blades. None of that stuff is really free because you will expend a lot of time, effort, and supplies working on it to make that great looking blade and then have a high percentage of possibility that what you made might look like a knife but it isn't. Making high carbon steel is expensive so nobody uses high carbon steel for any job that does not require high carbon steel. That means most of what you find laying around isn't going to be blade worthy.

Just not worth the effort when you can get the real deal for $3 ft or even less ....


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  #4  
Old 07-17-2014, 09:44 PM
darrylbiscuit darrylbiscuit is offline
 
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Thanks for the replies....I suspected it wasn't the good stuff when I couldn't find much info about it!
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Old 07-17-2014, 09:50 PM
donnymac250 donnymac250 is offline
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Cool

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ray Rogers View Post
As Carl suggested, buy some 1084. Check with alphaknifesupply.com for some 1084 or 1080 They have great prices and will sell very small amounts.

At this point in your knife making experience you should avoid 'free' steel, especiall salvaged steel like files and saw blades. None of that stuff is really free because you will expend a lot of time, effort, and supplies working on it to make that great looking blade and then have a high percentage of possibility that what you made might look like a knife but it isn't. Making high carbon steel is expensive so nobody uses high carbon steel for any job that does not require high carbon steel. That means most of what you find laying around isn't going to be blade worthy.

Just not worth the effort when you can get the real deal for $3 ft or even less ....
i need to find some for $3 a ft . 70 plus cents per inch up here . you got a little steel mill up there in them hills ray lol
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Old 07-18-2014, 08:23 AM
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OK, closer to $5 ft these days at alphaknife I guess but remember that's for a purchase of a single foot of steel. Buying in bulk should reduce that but 70 cents/ft is still cheap. I keep forgetting you're in Canada, you're probably lucky they let you have steel at all .....


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Old 07-26-2014, 09:18 AM
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It may be worth pointing out for us newbies that 1013 has 0.13% carbon, 1084 has 0.84% carbon and so on. There is a "magic" number at which % carbon becomes suitable for making a knife. I've heard 0.6% before but not too certain why this is.

Dan
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Old 07-26-2014, 10:39 AM
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A high carbon railroad spike is about 1050 I think and most people consider that too soft for a real knife. .6 really isn't that much better. Personally, I would stay with 1075 or higher if you want a knife that will be worthy of the effort we put into making these knives ...


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Old 07-26-2014, 11:29 AM
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I think where I read is was in the ASTM 304. 5160 is reported to be in the 0.6% range. 13C26 and AEB-L are around 0.68%. All of these can be made into a fine blade. I probably drew a conclusion that 0.6% is about the lower limit.
:-)
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Old 07-26-2014, 12:15 PM
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5160 does make a very good blade but I think that can be attributed to the rest of the alloying elements more than the relatively low carbon content. Its also a good lesson for us not to be too close minded or focus too closely on just one aspect of a given steel. When I said 1075 I was thinking only of simple carbon steels with very little alloy content. For those steels, my personal preference would be 1075 or better but if you include the alloyed steels then you can get by with less carbon. I tend to think in terms of the first time knife maker and for them the alloyed steels aren't usually the best choice .......


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  #11  
Old 07-26-2014, 02:25 PM
jmccustomknives jmccustomknives is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by DanCom View Post
I think where I read is was in the ASTM 304. 5160 is reported to be in the 0.6% range. 13C26 and AEB-L are around 0.68%. All of these can be made into a fine blade. I probably drew a conclusion that 0.6% is about the lower limit.
:-)
This is true, while basic 1060 isn't "good" enough for most small blades a little chromium goes a long way. I can't say for others but in my test 5160 has out performed 1075 in edge endurance and is much stronger.
As one who dabbles in blacksmithing as well as knifemaking that 1018 would find it's way into projects around my shop,
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Old 07-26-2014, 08:26 PM
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I too am always happy to have any steel for free. :-)
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  #13  
Old 07-27-2014, 05:47 AM
WBE WBE is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ray Rogers View Post
A high carbon railroad spike is about 1050 I think and most people consider that too soft for a real knife. .6 really isn't that much better. Personally, I would stay with 1075 or higher if you want a knife that will be worthy of the effort we put into making these knives ...
Everything I've seen on RR spikes said 1035, and only with those marked HC on the heads. Test results showed even less.
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Old 07-27-2014, 06:44 AM
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Yeah, never turn down the free steel. There are always uses that can be found for any of it, just not necessarily knives.

I've read and heard the same thing about RxR spikes WBE. Lots of missinfo out there on spikes. My info came directly from RxR specs/docs. One of the other points of missinfo is the "HC" on the spike does not stand for "high carbon". Engineers say it is a mfgr. mark and has nothing to do with carbon content. Never sold a spike as a real "knife" just as a novelty (can't bring myself to call it a knife).
Now the big lock washers that used to be used when they plate-jointed the rails together are spec'd out as 1095. When straightened out you have 3/8" to 1/2" square rod about 4.5" long....enough to make a medium size hunter. The big ugly spring clips that keep the rail from traveling are supposed to be 5160, but never found real specs on them. Got the same results via HT as I get from 5160, so maybe true (just don't know for sure). Lot of steel in those buggars.


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