# Knife Steel Question



## manbuckwal (Jun 26, 2013)

Would the blades off a commercial wood chipper be good for making 
skinning/hunting knives? and would it even be worth the time for you knife makers to mess with something like this ? Here is a pic of one. It measures 1/2" thick at the thickest ( 4" span ) before the tapers. It is a 4 5/8" wide and 10 1/2" long . Thanks 

[attachment=26860]
[attachment=26861]


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## Mike1950 (Jun 26, 2013)

Jeff- Brown down made at least one knife from chipper blades. You might pm him.


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## manbuckwal (Jun 26, 2013)

Mike1950 said:


> Jeff- Brown down made at least one knife from chipper blades. You might pm him.



Thanks ! I sent him a PM 

Mods .......thanks for moving the thread . I was going to post it here but it seemed like everything here was a finished product and I did not want to clutter that up :lolol:


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## robert flynt (Jun 27, 2013)

Yes a knife can be made from the chipper blade but it would be labor intensive because it would have to be forged into a blade. If it wasn't so thick (1/2") it would be easier. You could anneal it and bandsaw it next to the center holes then have a bladesmith forge that piece into a blade. It would also be nice to know what steel it's made of for better heat treatment.
Robert


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## manbuckwal (Jun 27, 2013)

robert flynt said:


> Yes a knife can be made from the chipper blade but it would be labor intensive because it would have to be forged into a blade. If it wasn't so thick (1/2") it would be easier. You could anneal it and bandsaw it next to the center holes then have a bladesmith forge that piece into a blade. It would also be nice to know what steel it's made of for better heat treatment.
> Robert



Thanks for the reply ! Sounds like more work than it would be worth due to thickness. If they would have been ideal then I would've maybe been looking to do some trading and have a knife made . Oh well ! Thanks


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## brown down (Jun 28, 2013)

they would make some pretty sweet axes or hatchets. I have made 2 knives out of wood chipper blades, its a lot of work milling them down to a workable thickness. plus heat treating them is a pain in the you know what, depending on the steel.. some stainless you have to freeze..

the remaining ones i have i am gonna make some sick hatchets out of!


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## jimmyjames (Jun 28, 2013)

Those blades are probably D2 tool steel and have a Rockwell of 58-60, the only bad thing is that its heat treated all ready, you can try annealing it at home you won't have much luck, tool steel isn't that expensive especially in small sizes for making knives, plus if you don't have the resources to heat treat tool steel you can take it too a machine shop and they can do it or point you to a company that can, here locally you can get heat treating done for $1 a pound..... so it might cost you a couple bucks.... heat treating tool steel correctly without an oven is next to impossible, your soak and annealing temps need to be spot on as well as your temps and times for preheat, soak and double tempering, if your inclined to work with tool steel I could heat treat for you and just throw it in with other things I'm heat treating


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## manbuckwal (Jun 28, 2013)

brown down said:


> they would make some pretty sweet axes or hatchets. I have made 2 knives out of wood chipper blades, its a lot of work milling them down to a workable thickness. plus heat treating them is a pain in the you know what, depending on the steel.. some stainless you have to freeze..
> 
> the remaining ones i have i am gonna make some sick hatchets out of!



Make sure you post some pics !!!!


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## manbuckwal (Jun 28, 2013)

jimmyjames said:


> Those blades are probably D2 tool steel and have a Rockwell of 58-60, the only bad thing is that its heat treated all ready, you can try annealing it at home you won't have much luck, tool steel isn't that expensive especially in small sizes for making knives, plus if you don't have the resources to heat treat tool steel you can take it too a machine shop and they can do it or point you to a company that can, here locally you can get heat treating done for $1 a pound..... so it might cost you a couple bucks.... heat treating tool steel correctly without an oven is next to impossible, your soak and annealing temps need to be spot on as well as your temps and times for preheat, soak and double tempering, if your inclined to work with tool steel I could heat treat for you and just throw it in with other things I'm heat treating



Thanks for the info ! More than I'm wanting to deal with  I will stick with wood


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