[TheForge] 1045 uses

Thu Feb 20 19:39:00 2003

To be honest, your odds of buying a piece of virgin steel these days is 
pretty low, it is all recycled to some extent.  I will also say that I 
have many times had the problem of a piece breaking off at an 
inopportune moment. with new steel as well as scrap.  Usually with new 
steel, it is because the piece given to me by the yard is higher carbon 
than what I specified.   Gee, this debate is beginning to shape up like 
another forge-weld vs arc/gas weld debate.

Charles

[email protected] wrote:

>I am a bladesmith and I use those pieces of scrap steel some would scoff at 
>and my blades come out very good I want to tell you.Yes I have had some that 
>I have gotten to that almost finished stage and found the hairline cracks of 
>stress in them and when I do it gets tossed and goes no further.I for one 
>really like the fact that my blades are from recycled materials.In this day 
>and age of waste I find many of the folks buying my knives like that fact 
>that it used to be a coil spring from a car or truck or was cut from an old 
>saw mill blade and I have remade it into a working tool.
>I have also made power hammer tools from old spring stock and have had no 
>problems with it.The key is how it is heat treated and this is what makes all 
>the
> difference.
>  
>