The steel from lawn mower blades is a bit of an unknown, could be good or not for knives. I cut off a small bit of the steel and heat treated it. It came up trumps, which I was pleased about. The blades are forged, I tried to give a nice smooth forge finish to them. Only the cutting edge is ground. After heat treat, I soaked them into some vinegar overnight to remove the forge scale.
The handles are wrapped with thick cotton thread and I used brown shellac to soak and stick the threads together, which worked quite well. They are not the best looking handes, but for what they are, it's fine.
I like mower blades as they are. They have to be hard enough to hold up and soft enough not to shatter on impact, so they work fine for me. I prefer a Rockwell in the high 30's for an everyday work knife and that's what most mower blades are. So are Old Hickory knives (some of my favorite work knives).
ReplyDeleteNice work. I like knives that keep the forged look. Cleaning off the scale with the vinegar soak has given them a clean look but preserved the rustic appeal of the forging.
ReplyDeleteWorking knives, will serve their purpose well I think.
ReplyDeleteGreat ones....and I very much like the idea with t5he shellac, have to try that myself....!!!!
ReplyDeleteCome to think of it, I still got some mower blade lying around.... uuuummmmmm;-) too many projects altogether!
Very nice job Joel,I really like the look of those knives.
ReplyDeleteI have used lawn mower blades in the past and the steel was just fine for knivs.