Last of the Legacy Steel but is it 440C?

[John Cahoon]

Good morning everyone, I've finally worked through the leftover steel from my first foray into knifemaking from long ago. But of course this group is unmarked. We only bought 01,5160 and 440c from Admiral back then and I've worked through the first two and starting on the "440c" (95% sure). Problem is I'll need to send this out for HT and want to be as certain as can be.

So I noticed some differences, primarily the grinding dust has sparklies in it that I haven't seen before and it doesn't seem to clump up as much. I'm purely speculating that it might be chromium reflecting? The raw surface of the steel is very smooth compared to the others, and it seems to grind a little more easily. Any opinions would be deeply appreciated.

 

[PSarganis]

Try putting gun blue on it. If it doesn't take you know it's stainless.

 

[Britt_Askew]

Peters Ht has a gun they can point at it and right away tell what it is.

 

[joedhiggins]

+1 on cold blue. But also vinegar, FC, lemon juice, or any other acid. For the acids, put some on a piece of carbon steel at the same time and compare oxidation rate

 

[John Cahoon]

Thanks fellas, I did not know any of those things.

 

[JTknives]

Yep try and etch it with some kind of acid.