Subject: Re: Bladesmithing metal

From: [email-masked] (Bill Fiorini)
Date: Thu, 2 May 1996 06:38:28 -0500

>For My ffirst knives, I went to a saw mill and got old broken
>bandsaw blades, 9" wide, cut in 6' sections and about 1/10" thick, the
>steel used in all WOOD CUTTING saw blades is L6 which stands for low
>alloy, meaning it's chicken soup; a little silicon for shock resistance,
>a little nickel for wear resistance, just a touch of chromium for rust
>resistance.  Hard to break, easy to work.

Hard to file after heat treating!!!!!

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From: [email-masked] (W Thomas Powers)
Date: Thu, 2 May 96 22:20:51 EDT

>When you buy metal for bladesmithing, does it usually come as round stock or
>square?  And how thick does the bar have to be to make a blade that is about
>1 1/2 to 2 inches wide?  Thanks again!  
>Stephen Smith

Well; I don't mess around with the small stuff much so I guess I would
say it needs to be at least 1/32" thick---of course you have to pile up
a stack of it and weld it......

I usually use rectangular/square/round/hexagonal stock depending on
what I'm making, what I'm making it out of and where I got the stuff.

This last weekend I helped folk make knives from an old cast steel chisel,
a file and a caping chisel.  I bought O-1 in 1/8x1.5" before for a specific
piece.  Not basing a living on it I get to mess around!

A 2" wide blade is pretty hefty I would probably start with something
1/4-1/2" thick depending on how much shaping I plan to do. If I am planning
to work the bevels out with the hammer I'll need narrower stock than if
I plan to do a bunch of grinding. Usually I want my stock to be a bit 
heavier than the planned finished thickness to allow for scaling and
clean-up. (when I first started I went quite a bit thicker to allow me
to grind out hammer dings...)  It is really design dependent.  I often 
rough out a bladeshape in pine to see if it "looks right".

How well equipped are you?  I might take a truck axle down for a blade if
I had access to a triphammer.  If all I had was a 16oz ballpeen  I would
start with something as close as possible to the shape/thickness I plan
to end up with.

Thomas who used to work for AT&T but now works for Lucent

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From: Stephen Smith <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 5 May 1996 21:30:13 -0400 (EDT)

Thanks for the information!  I do have access to the web through Netscape so
I can get those addresses.  In fact, I got onto this listserve through
Netscape.  Pretty handy, huh?  Well, I made a little hook for one of the
office secretaries at my school today.  By the way, what do you usually
finish your metal with?  I've used flat black spray paint or bees wax in the
past, but recently I've heard that it's good to "wire wheel" the pieces and
then coat them with polyurethane.  I guess it's just a matter of taste.  I
was just curious.  Talk to you soon!
Stephen Smith

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From: Jeff Valentine <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 6 May 1996 06:11:15 -0500

In fact, I got onto this listserve through
>Netscape. 
>
>I'd be interested in how to get a list of the available listerver subjects
using netscape.   Thanks,  Jeff 

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