[TheForge] Stainless steel skate blades

Tue Sep 13 06:33:00 EDT 2016

  You have to blame the show "Forged in Fire" because that's what got me into this!  I agree one should not start making blades.  That said, I did and as I said, I'm "OK" at it.  More interested in real blacksmithing. 

  I did make a dozen poppies for the Ypres 2016 event, so I can move steel, but I'm still a beginner. 

  Some of the knives I made were plain stock removal, as you suggest. A good idea with stuff like stainless, I agree.  I was hoping to at least forge the basic shape and go to the grinder from there.  That keeps the forging aspect alive. 

  As it stands now, I have sort of what I want.  However, when I quench it (I'm inclined to use oil), it might go "tink" and that will be that.  Assuming it doesn't fracture, the odds of the heat treatment working are another unknown.  I'm playing around and learning a lot. 

  I'll report back to the list how it goes.  Might be the end of the week before I get around to it.  Got a garden to harvest, a lawn to mow and a dozen other chores. 

- Paul 

> On Sep 12, 2016, at 3:32 PM, jerry Frost <akfrosty at mtaonline.net> wrote:
> 
> I'm not a bladesmith guy either but do know a LITTLE about skate blades.
> They MUST be hard to hold an edge on ice under extreme stress but resilient
> enough to not break under pounding forces, collisions with solid objects and
> other skate blades. At a guess I'd think about them as 440c or similar and
> not really forging stock.
> 
> Heat treat REQUIRES a ramping kiln and I don't know what for a quenchant, it
> may even be air quenching stainless I don't know.
> 
> Were a bunch dropped in my lap and I wanted to make blades a GOOD choice by
> the way, I'd go stock removal carefully control heat while grinding so as to
> NOT alter the heat treatment.
> 
> In my experience there are very few people who learn bladesmithing on their
> own from the ground up. There are too many integral learning curves to
> pursue at one time. I recommend starting at the beginning. Learn
> blacksmithing first, it's a pretty full plate on it's own without trying to
> learn on steel with tight working temperature range that's hard to move
> without damaging it. On top of that you have to learn heat treating. Then
> there's the grinder work.
> 
> I've found learning stock removal while you're learning blacksmithing has
> minimal conflict points. They're entirely different skill sets so you can't
> confuse them and you need to be proficient in both to forge blades. Yes?
> 
> Once you have forging down to a proficient level learning to forge blades is
> just adjusting to a material that takes more force to move but you now have
> good hammer control so you can turn up the power with minimum problems. 
> 
> You will have learned the principles of heat treatment making your punches,
> drifts, chisels, anvil devils, a hardy to two and hopefully a hammer or two.
> With proficiency in heat treat techniques learning a more demanding steel is
> a matter of adjusting and going through some test coupons to refine the
> numbers and times.
> 
> Those are my recommendations: Stock removal for the skate blades. Learn
> blacksmithing while you're developing skill grinding. then learn to forge
> high carbon steel and refine your heat treat skills on coupons.
> 
> Of course I'm not a bladesmith guy I could be wrong. Frosty 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: TheForge [mailto:theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Paul M
> Dunphy
> Sent: Monday, September 12, 2016 9:21 AM
> To: theforge at mailman.qth.net
> Subject: [TheForge] Stainless steel skate blades
> 
>   I recently was given a couple dozen stainless steel skate blades:
> 
> <http://www.blacksmith.ve1dx.net/skate/>
> 
>   They are 12 inches long and a little over 1/2 inch wide and 1/8 inch
> thick, or thereabouts.  Does anyone have any suggestions what they could be
> used for (they are new, having come from a sports shop that used to replace
> worn out skate blades with new ones.)
> 
>   I make "OK" knives from old files and tool steel (1084 and 1095) as
> well as a few from pre-made Damascus billets.  I bought the Damascus because
> I can't pattern weld yet, if ever!  But I digress.
> 
>   I tried a couple of knives from the skate blades and both times I
> cracked them trying to forge them.  The third time I used more care, and I
> now have a rough knife blade shaped.  It still needs to be ground to a
> proper finish and heat treated.
> 
>   Several web sites on knife making mention stainless steel with some
> variation of "Don't even think about it!"  The reason given is the alloys
> are unpredictable and to properly harden/temper them you need to have +-10
> degrees temperature control.
> 
>   All I have is a dual burner propane forge.  It gets mild and tool steel
> hot enough to forge weld.  Working and heat treating tool steel into blades
> isn't hard . . . I can do it by eye.  I can't control the temperature +- 10
> degrees without a thermocouple or the like.
> 
>   The questions for the experts on this list is:
> 
> (1) Is it really that hard to make blades from stainless steel?
> 
> (2) If it requires more precision/expertise than the average hobbyist smith
> has, is there any other use for these than knife blades?
> 
>   I don't want to make a lot of knives with them.  I'm hoping I can pull
> off one or two.  If not, maybe I can use them for an unrelated blacksmith
> project.  I'm not really a blade-smith, but it was a good place to start
> learning the craft of working with steel.
> 
>   Anybody have any suggestions?  What would one quench them with . . 
> . oil or brine or something in between?  They didn't cost me anything so if
> I waste a few experimenting, or find out they really have no practical use,
> it's no big deal.
> 
> --
> - Paul
> 
> ------------------
> 
> Paul M Dunphy
> Lake Echo, Nova Scotia
> 
> www.ve1dx.net  <--- Weather
> www.blacksmith.ve1dx.net  <--- Blacksmithing
> 
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