steel ? Can someone help me out?

Keith Willis

Keith Willis

Well-Known Member
I would like to find out what type of steel these are made of,and if it will make good blade steel.I may have to contact Nicholson,but I thought some of you may have used some of these.

They were used to cut railroad steel.My dad retired from the railroad about 5 years ago,after 38 years.He said they stopped using these about 16 years ago,but he was not sure.
I have seen guys use these to make a knife,that's been 25 years ago but they say they made good knives.I can tell you(as they are) they are very hard.
Maybe someone can tell me something

God bless,Keith
 
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Probably L6, try to drill one. On the newer power hacksaw blades the edge is hard but the back is softer, if you can't drill it with a good drill bit you probably have L6.

Well now I took a better look at your pictures and I'm not sure now because it says molybdenum.
 
Thanks Les.The guy that give them to my dad,also worked on the railroad,said he had them stored up for better than 20 years.
A file will not touch it,I tried a new drill and it will do nothing.When I get ready to drill,i'll try a carbide bit.
Do you all think it would be worth my while to contact Nicholson?


God bless,Keith
 
Thanks Chuck.Do you anneal it first,or how do you work it? Do you heattreat it as L6?
Thanks for the help.

God bless,Keith
 
Thats actually how I got started making knives. You can work them hard but if it really is L6 it's a bugger to grind and you'll want to make sure you don't overheat it. I'm pretty sure carbide drill bits will do the job drilling them.
 
Basically what Les said, I ground it hard and used carbide drills to drill it.

One advantage is that the hole that is already at the end can be used either as a lanyard hole or a tang pin hole. It's a little work to sharpen but I only have to touch it up once in a while.
 
Thanks Chuck,I just thought of one other question.

If I do overheat it,can I fix it? also....
I have search all I can think of,but have been unable to find out how to contact Nicholson.:bud:CAN ANYONE HELP?

God bless,Keith
 
Kieth,

When I was a kid My dad worked in a steel mill and brought a blade like that home for me to "make" a knife from. I was about 13 at the time so I drew the shape I wanted and someone from the mill ground it to shape and put a very dull convex edge on it.

It literally took weeks of honing on a sharpening stone to get it shaving sharp but I used it for a few years mostly outdoors chopping and hacking wood but I never had to sharpen it after the intial time.

I've always wondered what kind of steel this was so I've done some some research as an adult out of curiosity and my best guess is that it's M2 due to the Molybdenum thats printed on the blade.

I remember thinking what the heck is Moly-D-Benum ??????

As far as I know the knife is lost somewhere at my parents house so I made sure to tell them to SAVE it for me if they ever run across it.

-Josh
 
Power hack saw blades are often M2. The term high speed molybdenum steel is commonly used to describe these blades.

Since annealing and normalizing these alloys is difficult, it is best to grind it hard. One plus is that the steel can take a lot more heat than the 450F that ruins most carbon steel ground har ( like files). Use fresh belts. Go slow. Dip in water often.
There isn't much you can do to draw down the hardness of M2, so just use the blade as a slicer. IIRC, The tempering of M2 is between 800F up to about 1100F and then rapidly drops. From 800F to 1000F it increases a few points ( opposite of what you would think). Those saw blades are probably Rc 64-65
Stacy
 
Thanks Robert,that would explain why everything I google comes up Cooper. I'll check that out.2thumbs
Thanks Josh,hope you find your knife.That would be something good to hand down to your son.

Hey Stacy,good to see you are still comming around a little.I wish we could hear more from you on this forum,your knowledge and advice is priceless.
Thanks again my friends.

God bless,Keith
 
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