Question for you talented knife makers

[ugajay]

I was scrounging around one of my old barns that fell due to a tornado last week, and found a bunch of old metal stuff in there that was either my Papa's or my great Papa's. I would love to have a knife made fo my dad. The question I have is how would I be able to tell if the metal is worth a hoot, or would I need to give some different materials to a blade Smith and let them decide? Stuff from old pick axes, to parts off a one row planter you walked behind a mule, to old cultivator sweeps and Chisel plow points. Any of it would mean a lot to my old man. Just getting some ideas. Thanks

 

[godogs57]

All of those, it’s a pretty safe bet, would not be made from hardenable steel. I, or other bladesmiths, could tell you pretty quick if it will harden by putting a sample in a forge, bring it up to critical temp and quench.

I ‘m in Leesburg if you live down this way (or want to get some samples to me).

 

[ugajay]

Thank you very much! I'm a long ways from There but with the work you do I'll likely drive down and bring what I can come up with.

 

[Anvil Head]

Ugajay - I'm probably in the other direction from Godog. I'm up in Acworth. Be glad to help out as well. If you can post a few pics it would be easier to determine which articles might fall into the usable blade steel category. As GD stated, no big problem to do a few quick test to find out.
I work a lot with "mystery" steels, been doing it quite a few years. There are other farm items/tools that have great blade potential as well. This includes hand tools like files, saw blades, some wrenches, equipment springs, prybars, etc.
I always like to work with some of the old tools that still have a visible logo on them and try to incorporate/preserve them in the final product. Just a touch of "kool".

 

[treemanjohn]

I'm definitely not a talented knife maker,but my dad was. He would always spark test metal to check its worthiness. Tons of sparks, long lines, and forks at the end were good steel. Straight lines with little fireworks were no good to him

You can use a bench grinder, angle grinder, or chop saw. Sounds like you have two outstanding options if you can't test it yourself

 

[godogs57]

Ugajay - I'm probably in the other direction from Godog. I'm up in Acworth. Be glad to help out as well. If you can post a few pics it would be easier to determine which articles might fall into the usable blade steel category. As GD stated, no big problem to do a few quick test to find out.
I work a lot with "mystery" steels, been doing it quite a few years. There are other farm items/tools that have great blade potential as well. This includes hand tools like files, saw blades, some wrenches, equipment springs, prybars, etc.
I always like to work with some of the old tools that still have a visible logo on them and try to incorporate/preserve them in the final product. Just a touch of "kool".

if you ever need any peanut plow blades hit me up. Those ARE hardened steel. They are about 4 feet long by 6” wide and cut the soil under the ready-for-harvest peanuts, allowing them to be lifted out of the soil and inverted flipped over, so the sun can dry em. Good steel!

 

[Anvil Head]

Thanks for the generous offer G, but if I just moved half of my accumulated metal stash to the other side of the yard there would be a shift in next month's moon phases. I often go stare at it and wonder......
I have heard they are good steel, but I really have more than I can ever use and I average 20 - 30 blades a month now. Especially since I haven't had any students, demos, or events since March (that's looking to continue for a good while). Half way through my 71st trip around the Sun and slowing down a bit.

 

[K80Shooter]

If nothing you have is hardenable maybe one of the above smiths could use it to make a "San Mai" knife blade for you. That way it would still have some of that steel incorporated into it. Just a thought.