hoof rasp steel!!?

[chuckM]

a guy at our county fair called me up and asked me if i would try a blade from a hoof rasp- as it would mean alot to him, i found an old rasp in the barn thinking an older one would be better steel, heated it until red and then alowed it to cool before beginning to grind - well the blade looks great BUT i have tried to harden it twice now and have barely managed to get 20HRC- i thought it might be W2 or perhaps a 10 series so i to it up to 1500F soaked it for 20 min and then quenched in olive oil- the first time i wrapped it in foil and i thought that had inhibited the quench because it didn't even register on the c scale.
i have always known what kind of steel i have been working with and my heat treating has been always successful following established procedures- so i am a bit frustrated- i looked in the archives here but am still confused. any suggestions?
may finish the knife as a novelty for him and try to sell him one of my D2 blades- they would cut this rasp in half ...

 

[FortyTwoBlades]

Rasps typically are very good steel...same stuff as in normal files. However, the one you used could have been a crappy budget brand one? There seem to be two kinds of farriers...those who buy the cheapest rasps they can (because good rasps can be around $40 a pop) and those that buy the good ones because they know it's cheaper in the long run and makes a backbreaking job a bit less backbreaking.

 

[brets-ftw]

Basically what steel I've seen in files/rasps are W1(same as W2 without vanadium), 1095(Nicholson) and Case hardened Mild steel. You might have picked out one of the latter.

 

[alex]

You must have a Pakistani or some other foreign made rasp. The good American or German made rasps make great knives. I have seen and used a few skinning knives made from rasps by Mastersmiths like Al Pendray and they were beautiful and held a great edge. Find a good worn out rasp from a local farrier and try again.

 

[FortyTwoBlades]

Yeah--American, German, or Swiss files/rasps are great. Mexican, Chinese, Pakistani, or Indian...not so much.

 

[jimnolimit]

if you want to use that particular piece of metal, you could forge weld it to a piece high carbon steel and make a knife out of that.

 

[SOLEIL]

Most of the farrier rasps I have seen are very coarse with raised scalloped edges. All of the farriers we have used over the years had at least a dozen or so on hand and change them out frequently. I have no idea of how good the steel was but these were the same guys who used very coarse diamond coated oval aluminum rods to take the edges off of horseshoes and nails quickly and easily. These are $30 and up and are used for some time. The first diamond rods I ever got, and still use, were given to me by one of our farriers because it was not coarse enough anymore. That was 15+ years back.