# HHS for knifes??



## Spinartist (May 14, 2016)

Have any of you fabulous knife makers ever used High Speed Steel (HHS) for making a knife? I have several HHS woodturning tools nearing the end of their safe useable life & I wondered if they can be forged into blades. 
Not something I will most likely ever do.
I do know some can be ground into knife blades like the one in photo. (Photo was to big to post. I'll try to add one later)

(Yes, I know these tools can be used as smaller woodturning tools)


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## robert flynt (May 14, 2016)

Quite a few tool steels are used to make knives, hard to know what you have. Just give it a try, it will probably work if you can get the heat treatment right.


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## Spinartist (May 15, 2016)

Sorby wood turning tool. I'm not into making knives. Was wondering if any makers would or had experience using HHS for knives.


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## robert flynt (May 15, 2016)

I have used most all the tool steels. O1, W2, D2, A2, M4 and a lot of others but you will have to find out from the tool company that made it what the steel is. High speed steel is a generic name for a lot of steels. You also have metals with different mix of allows such as cobalt, vanadium and over a dozen other alloys. Each changes the characteristic of the steel. M4 for instance can be used for high speed application that generate a lot of heat and is a very good knife steel that can be ground very thin. But like I said HSS is not one particular steel. As a rule of thumb you can bring it to critical temp. (non-magnetic) quench it in oil and then draw it back from full hardness to a non brittle usable state by heating it 2 hrs or more at 350 to 400 deg.


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## Strider (May 16, 2016)

@Spinartist, you mean HSS? 
Yes, it is used for knives. They are very durable and hard. Their only problem is that most sources you use for those steels won't quite be having a steel composition chart on them, so the proper Heat Treatment will be a bit difficult to get done the proper way. Why? Because you can't harden them at normal temperature, nor can you precisely know at what temperature should you temper them. I tried tempering them on 200C for an hour and ended up losing most of my HRCs, but then at 500C they went rock hard. Odd things I say. I tried using a poultry circular saw blade, to cut frozen chickens at high speed, and didn't get the proper temperatures no matter what I did. But, still, it had good use put to it regardless having a bad HT, the steel was very good! 
But, in the end, should you get it right, you will have the best blade. Most people avoid them just because they can't get the HT right. Should they succeed doing so, many of the steels use would be overshadowed. The industry HSS cutlery tools last for a long time, regardless of the extra high speed cutting, hard material cutting and high temperature performance. They are so good!


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## Spinartist (May 16, 2016)

Thanks for the feedback!

Reactions: Informative 1


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