Throwers

I am thinking of taking up a new hobby,axe throwing. I have about 12 feet of saw mill bandsaw blades,15n20. Do I need to heat treat it if I’m careful no to over heat it while profiling and beveling? They will be full tang.
 
It would seem unlikely the steel will be fully hard (other than the cutting teeth).
Throwers need to be somewhat soft. Make one and test the tip for breakage is the only way you will know.
 
You planning to make throwing axe from the bandsaw blades? How thick are these blades? How do you plan to make the axe head? OR, are you planning to profile an axe/handle all from the same material?

I did a bit of searching and find some of the throwing axes are made thin, perhaps 1/8" or so. Anyway, tell us more about your axe design
 
Ken,the saw blade is 1/8 in. I was thinking of making something like the SOG Valkyrie,head and handle are one piece. Thanks for responding and any tips you can share.
 
OK, I looked at that SOG axe you mentioned. It's 10.75" long with a 2.5" head. I expect 1/8" would work just fine for that. While the blade most likely isn't truly "hardened", bet it's close enough for what you're wanting. You want the axe to bend rather than break when a missed throw happens. I say try one and see how it works.

Not sure what your tools are available. You might use a 4" disk grinder with the cutoff disk that are around .040" thick and they sure do a good job of cutting. That will cutout nicely.
 
Thanks Ken,ya being a bandsaw blade it’s fairly flexible especially lengthwise. I have been making knives a while so have tools. Yes was going to use an angle grinder for initial shaping. Thanks again,pics when done. Here’s the latest knife from said saw blade
 

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I am not sure if the process of making saw blades are the same all over the world. I know that here in South Africa 15n20 used for saw blades are equally hardened over the whole of the blade. I have obtained some blade from a local supplier and had to have the steel annealed, otherwise I could not drill holes through it. I am not sure to what hardness they done. I suspect that it may be slightly less than what is desireable for knives, but I am expressing an opinion here. I have not had any of it tested for hardness.
 
I agree, nowhere near hard enough for knives, but I'd expect in the 45Rc, maybe even 50 Rc range which should be good for those tiny throwing axes.
 
FWIW, we make our throwing knives (not to sell, just to throw out back of the shop) from mild 3/16”.
 
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