Hedge clipper blades

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I see no reason why they wouldnt make a fine blade although you may have a knife that looks like it was a hedge trimmer at one time. Lets see what you come up with.
 
Andrew, I've also found some old tools lying around, several lawn shears, hedge ones and hundreds of old chisels and such in shed that we pulled down when we moved here....problem is..I dont know what steel they are, and after searching the forums, I've seen how members react when we ask them what they think....heh....but I'm going with an interupted water quench, IF! I try forging them into something...that 16" chisel should make a monster blade, lol
 
Bruce Bump said:
I see no reason why they wouldnt make a fine blade although you may have a knife that looks like it was a hedge trimmer at one time. Lets see what you come up with.
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Well, exactly. Most hedge trimmers are advertised as "high carbon" steel, supposedly forged (drop forged, no doubt).

I'll give'em a try, no reason to just throw them away if they could have a second life!

Thanks!

Andy
 
My grandfather used to own a farm (he is 94 now, and for just a bit of excess information, he is the oldest living NASCAR driver). Anyways, he has a few old corn knives (a small sickle blade on a handle) that someday I am going to turn into a few knives. I will probably keep one and give the others to some members of the family, especially my mother. I am sure the steel in them is good, because they are probably 65 years old and made for cutting all day. I normally agree, however, you should know what kind of steel you are getting, but if you want to experiment, I would think that hedge blades would be a good start.
 
recycling junk into a functional knife is great fun. Turning an antiuqe into a knife might be throwing away more money than buying new high quality steel would cost. That "16" chisel" is probably a timber slick and they sometimes go for $200 on ebay. Even a lot of 6-8 mixed chisels without handles usualy sells for $60+. Leaf springs are allmost free, you get alot more useable steel and when you have 20# of the same steel you can get more of a feel for the heat treatment with the larger quantity, and then end up make beter knives, instead of taking 20 random pieces of steel and trying to figure out the heat treatment for each one and having more failures.
 
I was told the chisels are worth a bit, we had a relative come round and snatch a bunch of the ones with brass/copper ferrules and particular makers..
but there's still a good number left, might well scope out ebay, see if I can raise some cash for sapelle lumber, heh...
I'm not too fussed about heat treatments and properties when im just messing around, and if I was to be more honest, it doesn't really bother me at all, sure, I'll treat graded steels sensibly, but when I have a go at smelting my own...I'll be in no mans land...just have to guess-timate, lol
 
Experienced, professional knifemakers generally advise against using any "mystery" steel. There are very good reasons for this, mostly involving identifying the steel for proper heat-treating, as I understand it.

On the other hand, gazillions of good knives have been made from old tools. Dull file + labor/HT = good knife is perhaps the most common example. There's also a current thread about making tomahawks from hammers, for instance. I suspect old chisels would be pretty likely to be made of quality high-carbon steel, meant to get hard, get sharp and stay that way. (Depending on the chisel, its manufacturer, intended purpose, etc.) Clipper/mower blades aren't usually made that hard, but may well have plenty of carbon in them to get knife-edge hard. You won't really know, until the blade made from it is hardened and tempered and you test it. And if it fails then, it could be that the steel was suitable, but your HT procedure was wrong. (See above, about pro's not being big fans of mystery steel ;))

My suggestion is, read up on all the basics and dive in with the steel you've got. Forge it or grind it or file it, depending on the tools/skills you have now, not next year/maybe. I don't see how the practice can hurt, as long as you learn from it (as opposed to learning bad habits). That's where I'm at in my steel-mangling adventures, and it's working out pretty well so far. Mind you, I have some "known" steel barstock, on order, as well. :)
 
Gibson, no doubt some members insist to avoid mystery steels, but meh, I admire Tim Lively and other makers such as him for experimenting with handsome results. http://www.neo-tribalmetalsmiths.com/

I've yet to try a chisel/file blade...tried reforging one the otherday but its colours were new to me, seemed familiar to 01, but can't be sure, what I am sure of however, it's bloody hard stuff, even under a 4lb sledge, heh.

I posted in that hammer-hawk thread, lol... made a pocket one the same day, doesn't throw well, but I love her.

I'll definately dive in, and try to find a habit for steels, practicing with hot rolled iron (in various sizes/sections) is getting a little boring, even though, everyday, I try to forge a different object for a different purpose.. and ultimately, aids me in my way to developing hammer control.

I'd be interested to see some of your recycled tools, post some up :)
 
Aware said:
I'd be interested to see some of your recycled tools, post some up :)
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I'm about 2/3 done with a hunter/utility knife made form a Nicholson knife-edge file (Cheating! Bevels were already ground close to shape...) I tempered it twice for an hour, at 350 degrees, then started in on it.
Progress has been little slow because I blew up my cheap grinder :eek: ... but I'm down to hand-sanding stage now... in the process I just about finished wearing out another file, heh! more steel that's already paid for... :D

http://s156.photobucket.com/albums/t32/JTerrio/?action=view&current=camp041601.jpg
 
GibsonFan said:
I'm about 2/3 done with a hunter/utility knife made form a Nicholson knife-edge file (Cheating! Bevels were already ground close to shape...) I tempered it twice for an hour, at 350 degrees, then started in on it.
Progress has been little slow because I blew up my cheap grinder :eek: ... but I'm down to hand-sanding stage now... in the process I just about finished wearing out another file, heh! more steel that's already paid for... :D

http://s156.photobucket.com/albums/t32/JTerrio/?action=view&current=camp041601.jpg
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I'm in the process of "recycling" a couple of old files myself. I don't think there's anything wrong with it, but if I'm gonna sell them, I'm gonna let the buyer know where the steel came from and how I treated it etc., just so they know the "unknown variables" I was dealing with, and what they will potentially be dealing with. That's just me though. Gibson, that knife looks sweet so far! That must have been one heck of a big file! :eek: :D -Matt-
 
Gibson, does indeed look sweet, how thick is that thing?

That must have been one heck of a big file!
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Lol, you think? ......



These are three of the big files I've put aside from others, they've had my attention for a few weeks now,
I've tried searching for information on the makers to throw up some info on probable steels, but all I could find was an excerpt from a knive collectors book on amazon, and an insurance reciept or something from 1865...
These might be old.. :cool:

But they're G.Barnsley & Sons with a logo of 'A' with a lil shoe pictogram... Sheffield England....and on the handles they say ''Stoic'' Duplex...

The two monsters are around 1/3" thick and 1.5" wide...lol... Machetes?? lol

Though I think I must grind the the teeth away to void cold shuts, and I have this suspicion that my grinder will also take a beating like Gibson's, :D

Any ideas what steel these are likely to be would be appreciated, otherwise its gunna be another interupted water quench :o
 
that insurance reciept wouldn't be for the flood, and total 62 quid 4/- ?

an angle grinder might be easier to get the teeth off with once either annealed or heated and normalised to kill the temper.


Haave you checked the scraps of steel thread Aware? theres a few local steel places in chesire that ought ot be cheaper than postage from the states :P
 
Yeah, I'll be sure to kill the temper first.. :) But I'm still a little worried, I've lost maybe 1/2" of the cast wheels on the bench grinder in a month..lol going to have to find some good quality ones n bulk some time..

Yeah thanks for those links... I'm going to check out that metal merchants this week first, and if that fails then I'll consider them, many thanks for taking the time to do so btw, Kiwi :)
 
Aware said:
Gibson, does indeed look sweet, how thick is that thing?
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It measures a strong 7/32" at the spine (just shy of 1/4"). Blade 4"x31/32", handle 4". The handle is a bit smaller than most, in theory to make it handier for various grips. I hope to make it useful for everything from batoning/cutting kindling to skinning/cleaning game to paring a potato. When it's done, I'm going to put it up for pass-around in W&SS; I figure I'll find out real quick if my ideas are on track :D

Aware said:
...Though I think I must grind the the teeth away to void cold shuts, and I have this suspicion that my grinder will also take a beating like Gibson's, :D...

Any ideas what steel these are likely to be would be appreciated, otherwise its gunna be another interupted water quench :o
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I should point out that my grinder's drive belt failed, IMHO, because I overtightened a new grinding belt when I installed it. It cut steel really fast for about 10 minutes :o :D Also, to be fair, my little 4x36" Delta probably wasn't built to be grinding tempered tool steels on a regular basis... when I step up to a 2x72" or something, this one will be used mostly for handles.

The conventional wisdom, as I recall, usually places good files as W2 or sometimes 1095.

grease-man said:
I'm in the process of "recycling" a couple of old files myself. I don't think there's anything wrong with it, but if I'm gonna sell them, I'm gonna let the buyer know where the steel came from and how I treated it etc., just so they know the "unknown variables" I was dealing with, and what they will potentially be dealing with... -Matt-
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You're very right, it's only fair to be upfront about it when using "mystery" steel. And test thoroughly, of course. I'm finding that by the time you get the bevels set, you have a fair idea if it's usable steel or not. If it was just case hardened, you'd have ground into the soft stuff by then. Before hand-sanding, put a rudimentary edge on it and see if it holds up to the brass rod and some basic cutting tests. If you're like me, you will probably have done that anyway just for fun :D
 
I'm new here and my first "knife" I'm working on is from a set of clippers someone left in my yard. Making two tanto ish blades and two neck knives its going ok. I will post pics when i get a few that aren't tpo embarrassing. What to use as scales though if i can keep the blades black?
 
Welcome to Bladeforums.

If you will look at the dating on this thread, you will see it is almost seven years old.

Also, filling out your profile would be a good thing to do.

I am closing this thread. Post any photos or questions in a new thread.
 
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