CAUTION buying 1084 on eBay

[JTknives]

I just attempted to heat treat knives for a customer. Half would harden the other half would not. Thy where listed as 1084 but 2 clearly where not that. I contacted the customer and expressed my concern that he mixed in some a36 practice knives. He said no it should all be 1084. He said 2 of them where made from NJSB and the other 2 from an eBay seller named jimcurtjame. I spark tested the blades in question and without a doubt it was mild steel. I just looked this seller up and he has a history of selling mild as 1084. So steer clear not worth it, just get it from a reliable source. Here are the blades in question.

2 on left are NJSB, 2 on right are from eBay.

NJSB steel

jimcurtjame Steel

Here are some of his reviews

 

[DevinT]

Wow, that’s crazy. Thanks for posting this.

Hoss

 

[Bigfattyt]

Bummer. Sucks to put time and effort into steel to have it turn out not to be iron/mild steel.

 

[Stang Bladeworks]

Thanks for letting us know

 

[Aidenag]

Hopefully your customer learned his lesson about buying from a source who wss obviously known for selling fake products.... why people don't take the few extra seconds to look into sellers is beyond me.

 

[mete]

Some things might show up before any work is done !
Who designed the blade ? holes in the tang are for improved weight and balance .A few large holes are better than many small holes . [If you passed your math coarse ]work it out ] Holes should be 1/8" at least from edges or other holes.
Post HT photos show that two of them were not HT'd properly or had the wrong steel. The divots in the blade on the left is a big warning sign !

 

[JTknives]

Some things might show up before any work is done !
Who designed the blade ? holes in the tang are for improved weight and balance .A few large holes are better than many small holes . [If you passed your math coarse ]work it out ] Holes should be 1/8" at least from edges or other holes.
Post HT photos show that two of them were not HT'd properly or had the wrong steel. The divots in the blade on the left is a big warning sign !

What are you talking about? I did not design or make these blades.
These blades are from a customer of mine who needed them heat treated. All 4 blades had the same heat treat recipe which has been proven on tons of knives.
2 of them came out perfect and the other 2 soft and crusted up. that's what lead to the research to see where the customer got the steel.

 

[Tom Lewis]

JT, thanks for letting us know. It pays to buy from a reputable dealer. If it's too good to be true, it's probably not very good.

 

[ashwinearl]

I fell into this trap for some of my first ones. I bought from the same ebay seller. Alpha Knife only these days, some USA Knifemaker.

 

[JTknives]

I sent him a very strongly worded message the other day. Basically laying out what’s going on and summing it up with a “I know a lot of people and will spread the word”. People underestimate how tight of a community we are. I have not gotten a response.

 

[jdm61]

You really didn't need to say much more that "steel" and "eBay"

 

[Britt_Askew]

JT your customer should file a paypal claim and give them a link to this thread. Steel not as described.

 

[JTknives]

I just heard from my customer and thy got a full refund.

 

[Pendexter]

Thanks for the heads up. I saw this post yesterday and literally had my first steel order from that exact ebay seller sitting in my mailbox :/ This is my first attempt at knifemaking and there's no way I would have realized it was the wrong steel.

I'd appreciate it if someone could help determine if this is 1084 or mild based on the photos below. I've read up on the spark test and don't have enough experience to know if it's mild or not. I was watching Walter Sorrells spark testing video, and the high carbon had way more of the bursts closer to the steel...

 

[DevinT]

From the looks of the sparks, it’s mild steel.

Hoss

 

[JTknives]

I did a spark comparison test for my previous customer to show what a carbon steel spark should look like. My eyes tell me that you also got mild steel. But some times cameras don’t catch all the detail. With carbon steel you should have a lot more bursts and less lines or streaks. Watch this short video and you will clearly see what I’m talking about.

 

[DevinT]

Hardened and tempered steel throws more sparks than annealed steel. You can’t get too many sparklers from mild steel regardless.

Hoss

 

[AVigil]

Just for reference, this is what AEBL looks like directly from @Alpha Knife Supply

Look how clean the surface is

 

[JTknives]

My carbon steel spark test was from a non heat treated bar end.

Hardened and tempered steel throws more sparks than annealed steel. You can’t get too many sparklers from mild steel regardless.

Hoss

 

[Natlek]

Thanks for the heads up. I saw this post yesterday and literally had my first steel order from that exact ebay seller sitting in my mailbox :/ This is my first attempt at knifemaking and there's no way I would have realized it was the wrong steel.

I'd appreciate it if someone could help determine if this is 1084 or mild based on the photos below. I've read up on the spark test and don't have enough experience to know if it's mild or not. I was watching Walter Sorrells spark testing video, and the high carbon had way more of the bursts closer to the steel...

Why you don t cut small pieces from angle and HT ? That way you will 100 % know what you have ? Torch will be more then enough for that fast test , just heat them to bright red and drop them in water .If then they brake like glass you have steel , if not ..............