Plow Steel

[Robert Dark]

Most of you know that I have made a few knives from old spring tyne cultivator blades. I have shown/sold them here as "Plow I, Plow II, Plow III, ect.

I had a potential buyer ask how this compares to say "1095". The simple answer is........ "Darned if I know". Another question that frequently comes up is "What is the steel composition? The simple answer is......... "Darned if I know".

So, just for grins, I took a pretty well used kitchen knife that I made from this stuff about a year ago and tried it on a genuine U.S. clad quarter. I put the quarter on a wooden plank, then used a wooden mallet to hammer through it.

Results.......... Little, if any edge damage. A quick once-over on my edge pro with the polishing tape brought everything back-up-to-snuff.

I must qualify the above by saying that I don't recommend using unknown steels, and, if a customer says that he is cutting quarters with one of my knives, I would have to say that "abuse" may be in order.

Just thought I would share (cause I was slightly impressed) .............. Robert

 

[mdoyle]

Robert
If you sent me a small piece of your "plow steel", I could tell you what it was and then you wouldn't have to answer "Darned if I know." From others I have tested I would GUESS 1075, but that's just a guess.
Seiously, email me if you want to know
Matt Doyle

 

[Mike Krall]

I got told by Bethleham Wire Rope Co. that is goes like this...

Plow Steel - 1055
Improved Plow Steel - 1065
Extra Improved Plow Steel - 1075
Extra Extra Improved - 1085.

Though wire rope comes in Extra Extra Extra Improved Plow, it is not 1095 and is called Extra Extra Extra Improved Plow grade (not steel). The 3- Extra rope is the type with either/and/or swaged wires, strands, whole rope so for a given diameter, there is more steel, therefore more tensile strength. Above 1085, the carbon causes incompatible brittleness.

There is a type of wire rope used in pretensioning concrete that is 1095. It is Lang Lay (soft twist) 7- strand and each strand is a solid wire... usually whole rope is 1/2" or 5/8".

Mike

 

[Steve Wolf Shimanek]

Not to hijack the thread but as followup....Mike, have you or anyone you know ever worked that pretension cable in a knife? I have a few pieces of it but haven't tried yet....I can get more from the scrapyard if it is worth it. Thanks, Steve

 

[richard j]

i have use cultivator discs ever since a farmer friend gave me some in the early 90's when i first started out making knives. it makes for some tough knives like roberts pictures shows and they hold an edge like crazy.

 

[jdm61]

As for cable, my recollection is that the stuff that Mr. Ellis is selling is mostly 1084/85 with a core of 1095. I may be wrong, though. As for brittleness, when I anneal W2 which has 1% carbon and a fairly effective carbide former, it bends like a pretzel.

 

[steelshaper]

Robert, does what you are using look something like this?

Like you said I would never tell some one they SHOULD use reclaimed steel but I still think its COOL Especially plow steel. There is something kinda biblical about making a knife (or say a sword) out of a plow. :thumbup:

 

[Raymond Richard]

Not to hijack the thread but as followup....Mike, have you or anyone you know ever worked that pretension cable in a knife? I have a few pieces of it but haven't tried yet....I can get more from the scrapyard if it is worth it. Thanks, Steve

I think what you referring to is called "strand" cable. If I remember there are 7 wires to the cable. Its been years since I have done anything with it but I do remember it being real stiff forging with a hand held hammer. If your looking for a pattern there really isn't much there.

 

[J.S. Carter]

Robert, does what you are using look something like this?

Like you said I would never tell some one they SHOULD use reclaimed steel but I still think its COOL Especially plow steel. There is something kinda biblical about making a knife (or say a sword) out of a plow. :thumbup:

Joel 3:10 (King James Version)
King James Version (KJV)
Public Domain



10Beat your plowshares into swords and your pruninghooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong.

 

[Robert Dark]

Robert
If you sent me a small piece of your "plow steel", I could tell you what it was and then you wouldn't have to answer "Darned if I know."

Matt, I just may take you up on that offer.

Robert, does what you are using look something like this?

William, they look much like your photo, but don't have near as much curve to them.

Again, let me say that I make knives occasionally from this stuff ONLY because I enjoy taking an old piece of rust pitted steel and "beating" it into submission. There is just something that does a body good to watch a piece of steel change shape with hammer and fire.

Long before the days of internet and knife related forums, folks were making blades from all kinds of stuff. Some were probably pretty good knives, and some were probably really bad blades. I doubt many had access to the analysis of the steels.

Thanks ............ Robert

 

[Raymond Richard]

Robert, I to enjoy beating on the old steel much more than new. I ran into one cultivator tine that sure floored me. It was 3 layers of steel. The two outside layers being the hard steel with a soft core.

 

[J.Marsillo]

Robert I guess you could coin that the 25 cent test
I just stumbled on some old farm implements,long curly tines about 1/2" diameter and some curled flat ones.There was a stack of what looked like buggy springs too,to cool to send to the scrap yard.

 

[Raymond Richard]

Robert I guess you could coin that the 25 cent test
I just stumbled on some old farm implements,long curly tines about 1/2" diameter and some curled flat ones.There was a stack of what looked like buggy springs too,to cool to send to the scrap yard.

Joe, The long curly ones are most likely hay rake tines. The buggy springs are worth more than gold. One of my more favorite junk yard steels.

 

[kvaughn]

How do you heat treat these mystery steels? Heat til non-magnetic and quench?--KV

 

[richard j]

if you guys want some 1075, i had matt test a piece of disc. the disc is made by john deere and there are 2 numbers on the disc SS0032 and N214190. if these numbers arent on the disc, i would have it tested before using any.

 

[Mike Krall]

Not to hijack the thread but as followup....Mike, have you or anyone you know ever worked that pretension cable in a knife? I have a few pieces of it but haven't tried yet....I can get more from the scrapyard if it is worth it. Thanks, Steve

Steve,

Holler at Bruce Godlesky (http://www.birdogforge.com/contact_us__links)
He has a pile of it that fell out of the sky and has worked with it some. Also has chemistry from the manufacturer.

Mike

 

[Mike Krall]

I think what you referring to is called "strand" cable. If I remember there are 7 wires to the cable. Its been years since I have done anything with it but I do remember it being real stiff forging with a hand held hammer. If your looking for a pattern there really isn't much there.

One thing about wire rope is the steel it is made of is high quality... couldn't be drawn into wire from big round-stock otherwise.

If a person has the willingness to screw around a while, this 7 wire (strand) pretensioning rope can be turned into a nice random pattern. Bundle a bunch of pieces and weld it up by hammering... twisting... hammering... drawing out. Restacking/welding with 15N20 inbetween, then hinge folding a few times will get a nice pattern. Could twist it after hinge folding. Could ladder or wolf teeth it, too. It's really good steel but it takes work.

Mike

 

[Mike Krall]

How do you heat treat these mystery steels? Heat til non-magnetic and quench?--KV

Wayne Goddard did an article on dealing with 'mystery steel' in the recent Blade Mag. It's a process to get right but if a person has a significant amount of 'mystery steel', it can be worth doing... then there is Matt Doyle and his offer to run chemistry tests.

Contact Matt and see if you think his offer is as good a deal as I do. Right now, I've got 2 sizes of W2, some 1.20 C W1, 3 batches of O1, 4 of L6, John Deere "wonder bar" that isn't 5160 (long and odd story), 2 batches of 15N20. All of it is either mystery metal or old drops/stock from tool steel houses that were pretty sure they knew what it was they were selling me for just over scrape prices (wrong 50% of the time. It is a real treat to absolutely know what steel you are dealing with.

Mike

 

[Robert Dark]

How do you heat treat these mystery steels? Heat til non-magnetic and quench?--KV

I played around with different temps with this particular steel. I finally settled at bringing it to 1460 degrees and quenching in a pre-heated fairly fast oil (vet-grade mineral oil). I found out that if I hold it (at temp) for around 5-6 minutes, it seems to work a bit better.

Temper temps (2 at 2 hours each) run around 415 - 420 degrees.

Seems to work out fine so far.

Robert

 

[Deweyknives]

Wayne Goddard did an article on dealing with 'mystery steel' in the recent Blade Mag. It's a process to get right but if a person has a significant amount of 'mystery steel', it can be worth doing... then there is Matt Doyle and his offer to run chemistry tests.

Contact Matt and see if you think his offer is as good a deal as I do................................................................................................... It is a real treat to absolutely know what steel you are dealing with.

Mike

I had Matt do some stuff for me. Pleasure to deal with and the price was more than fair to say the least!!!:thumbup::thumbup:

I've messed with coil spring,leaf spring,this steel,that scrap, in the end, the next piece you pick up will need the same amount of expermentation! Saves a lot of time if you know what you're using.