Rifle barrels for knives

B . Buxton

B . Buxton

Joined
Jul 8, 2001
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I know a guy that buys old army rifles just for the bolt assemblies and trashes the barrels. Would anyone know the steel make up in rifle barrels or are they made from different steel types, and would they be a good high carbon or low carbon. I would think they would be high carbon or you would shoot the riflings out, but I don't know.I would like to forge one down and was wondering if anyone has tried this before.(I guess this could give a whole new meaning to a smokin gun "knife" :D )

Thanks
Bill
 
I think that alot of current high grade rifle barrels ( other than the stainless ones) are 4140 chrome-moly. At least that is what i had put on my Sako.

I really don't know what the old military rifles carried.
 
I'm not so sure that a 4140 barrel forged into a blade would be that great by itself. But, maybe as part of a damascus mix?
 
I would make peace pipes with them. I saw the coolest pipe-hawk at the Blade Show made from a gun barrel. It had a short section of the barrel forge welded to a body and edge. It looked 200 years old. He wanted $500 for it.
 
Bruce,

That sounds like a fun and interesting project,I'll have to give it a try, I like forging hawks out of RR spikes,leaf springs and tie rods. Why thats another term, smokin gun "knife" and a real smokin hawk.:cool:
would you know where I might get a picture of one?

BIll :D
 
You could cut the barrel open lengthwise and stick in a high carbon center then forge a blade out of it. That way you'll have a high carbon core and edge.
 
B. Buxton, The makers name is Daniel Winkler, one of my heros. The one I saw was a muzzle-loader barrel but I think any gun barrel would do. Look on his home page for a pic.
 
I heard that Dr. Jim Hirsoulas made damascus from AK-47 and M-16 barrells. Cold War damascus.:)
 
Dr.Jim Batson buys octogon shaped muzzle loader barrels from Dixie Gun Works and then cuts them into short lengths and makes peace pipe Tomahawks from them and they are really beautiful.But if I remember correctly they won't make a serviceable edge without adding a piece of higher carbon steel to the cutting edge.
I have a old rifle barrel in my scrap pile that I got out of the scrap yard that had been in a house fire,I will try welding a piece and then hardening it and se what I get as I have also been curiouse of this question myself.I will try to do this today and let you know something.
Bruce
 
Well out of curiosity I went out and cut the gun barrel into six inch pieces.Yes it was a old military rifle barrel with the reciever in tack. Well I took a piece that was in the center of the barrel and put it into the fire.I let it start heating then fluxed it and put it back into the fire.When it got up to welding heat I started on one end and closed the hole up and then heated it again then this time out I made sure that I welded the hole together and with over lapping blowes I welded the piece half way and then turned it around in the fire fluxed and then welded it the rest of the way.Then I flattened and stretched it to 1/8 inch thick.
Then I took the piece and put it into the fire and brought it up to non-magnetic and quenched it.After letting it cool I stuck a inch of it in the vice and lightly hit it with a 3 pound hammer.I had checked it with a file and it showed to be hard.But after hitting it I KNEW it was hard as the piece shattered into several pieces like glass.COOL:cool: ...
Now all we would have to do is figure out the drawing heat and try the blade out and see just how tough it would be.
I still think it would work great in a Damascus mix which I am going to try soon and see what it acts like in the mix.

So my impression is YES it will make a knife blade that will hold a edge.
A little word of advice here is to aleays check the barrels for any kind of obstructions and make sure they are cleaned with no kind of powder residue left in the barrel.This way you won't have any bad accidents...
Now go cut a piece and try it out.You never know when a guy would like to carry his favorite rife to the woods and have a piece of the same kind of rifle as his knife also.with a piece of a old gun stock as the handle,and the guard could be made from any of the metal plates omn the old rifle or the trigger guard.Man could I think of a really cool knife made from all these old parts.Looks like I will have to make a trip to the local gun smiths shop and see what he has laying around that I can pilfer and try....
Bruce
 
cool, you could name it by caliber...
My thirty-thirty knife. And the .45-70 bowie. And the .375 H&H camp knife :D :D :D
 
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