home depot/lowes steel I know it's bad but why?

J

Jack_Daniels

Joined
Sep 28, 2011
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i have spent a few months lurking and reading on this forum before i posted here and one thing i have read i still have a question about.
i Read everywhere that the steel is bad but know one can tell me why?

what about the steel makes it bad for blades?
 
It does not have enough carbon to harden. You need better than 0.5% carbon to be able to harden enough far a blade. The "Lowes steel" is likely to be 0.18% or less. It will make a decent guard, though.
The type of steel recommended for home heat treat makers is 1084, a simple steel with 0.84% carbon. Easy to heat treat and enough carbon to hold a decent edge.
Chip Kunkle
 
Because it's mild steel... It doesn't have enough carbon in it to harden... You can't heat treat it. It's "designed" be tough, not hard. You could heat it up to 1475-1500 degrees and and hold it there for a couple minutes like you would with 1084, the quench it in oil, or for that matter water, and it'd still be dead soft. Do that with a piece of 1084 and you wouldn't be able to mark it with a file....
Hope this helps....
I'd recommend besides reading the Count's links in the other post, reading as many old posts in general to help build your knowledge....
 
I have been this was just something i wanted to know. Been lurking for about 4 months now. Just now decided to start posting cause i'm about to start making my first knife I just need to source some steel and i hate having to order if i can just pick something up is all
 
Filling out your profile will help,so we know which way to send you.Look locally at fastenal for O1.
Stan
 
Buy a minimum order of 1080 or 1084 from the New Jersey Steel Baron, Kelly Cupples, or Admiral Steel. Reasonable prices and easy, good steel to learn on whether you grind or forge.
I prefer NJS, but that's just me.
 
Does anyone see any issues with using the cheap Home Depot steel as pattern making material? It should work just fine if I want to use it for my templates correct?

+1 for Aldo the NJ Steel Baron
 
Mooseyard said:
Does anyone see any issues with using the cheap Home Depot steel as pattern making material? It should work just fine if I want to use it for my templates correct?
Click to expand...

That's exactly what I use for templates. Leave the dark mill scale on, it prevents rust. Blue or red layout dye also protects it well enough. It makes good guards and such, but really should at least be cold-blued, it has no corrosion-resistance at all if left bright.

To the OP, if you want local, find a Fastenal, Grainger, MSC, Enco or similar industrial supplier nearby and ask them for O1, A2 or D2. Pay the extra couple dollars for precision ground stock. On the other hand, if you had ordered from Aldo you'd just about have it by now and probably saved a few bucks ;) In either case, perhaps the most important consideration is how you're going to HT it, if you're keeping things as simple as possible 1084 is definitely the way to go.
 
I would suggest aluminum for templates. Much easier to shape, and no rust.
 
LRB- Aluminum is what I was considering at first for the reasons you mentioned, but I thought if I used the steel I could also play with different patinas (mustard, FC, etc) Will these patinas work on the low carbon steel? Also will it etch the same, so I could use it as practice pieces when I get an etcher?
 
I see that you are in Olympia, which isn't too far from where I (and several other makes on the board) live. I'm in the Seattle area. There are local sources for steel, and even some steel suitable for knifemaking... but the truth is it isn't any cheaper for being local, unless you are willing to settle for unknown quality steel that will be challenging (at best) to harden.

If you have lots of money to throw around, I can point you to a source for quality damascus billets in Kirkland (Epicurean Edge, whose products can be viewed on their web site http://bladegallery.com/).
 
1084 is excellent steel and probably costs less than the steel at the hardware store. It also makes an excellent knife.

I know the feeling though, my first knife shaped object was from junk steel that I bought knowing it was no good... the shame was that it came out pretty good and it is useless.
 
Um... people are probably going to call me a dick for this... But I'm having a hard time believing you've been TRYING TO LEARN very much in your few months of lurking. You're asking questions that are asked at least once a week and are all addressed in the "new maker thread" that the count always posts.
 
NickWheeler said:
Um... people are probably going to call me a dick for this... But I'm having a hard time believing you've been TRYING TO LEARN very much in your few months of lurking. You're asking questions that are asked at least once a week and are all addressed in the "new maker thread" that the count always posts.
Click to expand...

Hahaha... Trust Nick to state the obvious. There's something to be said for what you say and you might be right. I personally believe in the last year since I started making knives I've never found a general question that couldn't be answered by using the search function.
However, I well remember the migraine headaches trying to remember the difference between martensite and pearlite during the first month of reading Kevin's posts.
That being said, I had 32' of 1080 from Kelly Cupples in my garage after 3 days on the forum.....
 
i asked because everything i have read just says it's garbage i know how to use a search function and it was used. again i knew it was garbage i just wanted to know what about it made it not worth using

I have learned a ton i bought several of the videos listed and some that weren't so we will see how it goes.
 
Another problem with a lot of HD stell is that it is zinc plated. Zinc and high heat do not mix.
 
Daniel Fairly Knives said:
. . .I know the feeling though, my first knife shaped object was from junk steel that I bought knowing it was no good... the shame was that it came out pretty good and it is useless.
Click to expand...

This is the main reason not to mess around with junk steel. Good steel is cheap, and why mess around with anything else . . . it very easily could be wasted effort. You might as well make your first effort usable.

Mike L.
 
On a related note: Has anyone made an S30V lawnmower blade? If so, how is the performance and life?

Mike L.
 
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