# Steel Question



## NeilYeag (Oct 1, 2014)

I want to try my hand at a couple of knifes. I am so far having a tough time sourcing steel other than 4140 or 1050 (S50C). Would either of these work. I can locate things like old leaf springs and I understand that could be a good source for material, but I wanted to try a little easier approach to start with and get some off the shelf stock.

Also I would like to make an Adze, or some wood gouges, same questions on the above steels.

Thanks,

Neil


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## Foot Patrol (Oct 1, 2014)

Call the New Jersey Steel Baron. Talk to Aldo and he will fix you up.

http://newjerseysteelbaron.com/

Scott


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## Molokai (Oct 1, 2014)

Scott, @Foot Patrol - Neil lives in Thailand, so NJ Steel Baron is maybe too far away.... lol

Neil, any kind of steel is good for your first knife.


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## Kevin (Oct 1, 2014)

Molokai said:


> Neil, any kind of steel is good for your first knife.



If you were talking about me I would agree with you lol. But knowing Neil, he will probably produce a rather impressive knife his very first go. And I think Scott (FP) was alluding to Neil ordering from them and receiving the blank via mail? Probably shouldn't be that expensive to get one blank mailed to Thailand.


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## NYWoodturner (Oct 1, 2014)

Neil - Either will work but heat treatment will be the deciding factor in its durability. Not sure about the 4140 - I think that is a tool steel. but the 1050 is a high carbon which will sharpen really nicely but is more susceptible to rust. Either of those would make fantastic gouges.


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## therichinc (Oct 1, 2014)

I wouldn't say any steel is good for your first knife...I would say any steel is good to learn how to grind properly. The cheaper the better cause the first few will all be throw aways unless you are just a outstanding talent at the grinder.


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## robert flynt (Oct 1, 2014)

If there are any industrial supply places there you can get a number of different tool steels there. An old lawn mower blade, chain saw bar, worn out saw mill blade or even a worn out file will work.

Reactions: Agree 1


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## NeilYeag (Oct 1, 2014)

Kevin said:


> If you were talking about me I would agree with you lol. But knowing Neil, he will probably produce a rather impressive knife his very first go. And I think Scott (FP) was alluding to Neil ordering from them and receiving the blank via mail? Probably shouldn't be that expensive to get one blank mailed to Thailand.



Thanks for the compliment (words of encouragement). I am not sure that the knife will be impressive but I am fairly confident in my hand and fabrication skills. I really have never been much of a "prototype" person. Instead I tend to do as much home work as possible, in the olden days (remember them some of you), this was reading books and hopefully hooking up with someone that had know how. Now with the internet at least it is easy to get some guidance. (All be it some good and some not so). So I typically just build something in my mind over and over, and then when it comes to the actual piece it tends to come easier for me. So when I started looking for steel, I looked at wood tools and see that many use O1 for the cutting tools. I thought, this should be easy, O1 is used in a lot of processes, plenty of shops that sell steel here, plenty of machine shops. Did not turn out to be so. So did a little more research, and thought 1035 or 1040 would work as well. No go, the shops were telling me that they carried 4140, S50C (1050) and some times D2. Hence my question above. So what I wanted to do was to spend the effort to make something, but hopefully spend the effort with a reasonable end result. 

Also Scott, thanks for the link for Steel Baron, I see that they show 1095, which I think has some similar properties to D2. The issue is shipping this stuff here is subject to 60% duty!!

Oh well best course of action, shut up, by a small hunk of each and have at it right??

Neil


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## Foot Patrol (Oct 2, 2014)

Neil I did not notice that you live in Thailand. I am sure you can find some good steel for your first knife in Thailand. Most new knife makers tend to use 1084 as it is relatively easy to heat treat.

I don't have any experience using D2 but I have been told it can make a good knife.

Scott


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## NeilYeag (Oct 2, 2014)

Thanks Scott, I will push around some more and see what I can come up with. Little research says D2 is very tricky to heat treat. So I would like to eliminate as many variables as possible!


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## robert flynt (Oct 2, 2014)

Neil, 1095 also can be more particular with the heat treat. As mentioned earlier, 1084 is a good simple steel and is more forgiving than 1095. 52100 is a good alloy steel, if you can find it, and is easier to heat treat than D2, although it is not as stain resistance. Take a look at Admiral Steels web site if your going to order steel, they have a good selection. A lot of damascus steel come out of India and Pakistan these days but I don't know where they get their 10 series steel to make it. If you can find a source for India Wootz, that is some good metal. Another very forgiving steel is 5160, commonly called spring steel.

Reactions: Agree 1 | Informative 1


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## ironman123 (Oct 2, 2014)

Neil, (back in the day) I made a couple of fair knives out of old files, that I would take when I hunted and camped. They weren't great but worked.


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