making things from saw blades

[BrokenBiker]

i have a dead rage saw blade...seems a shame to throw it in the bin.

was thinking of making a few things, basic knives, a scribe maybe for marking out steel etc...

anyone know the composition of the blades as i would assume i would need to harden them and as they are TCT tips i wonder if the actual blade is just low carbon to save costs

 

[123hotchef]

robot wars weapon of mass destruction

 

[Welderpaul]

anyone know the composition of the blades

Cheese.

 

[BrokenBiker]

Cheese.

thats my concern lol...i suppose i could cut a small bit off, get it hot and dunk it, see if it it gets glass ahrd or not...f not its going to be pointless using it for an edge tool lol

 

[dutchweld]

 

[BarrieJ]

i have a dead rage saw blade...seems a shame to throw it in the bin.

was thinking of making a few things, basic knives, a scribe maybe for marking out steel etc...

anyone know the composition of the blades as i would assume i would need to harden them and as they are TCT tips i wonder if the actual blade is just low carbon to save costs

The Americans are quite keen on turning circular saw blades into hunting knives and the like; 'preppers' and survivalists. There are several examples on the Pinterest web site. I'd be guessing the blade itself would be a decent quality steel, Evolution claim them to be of 'high quality' but that could mean just about anything. I've done it with a 250mm TCT tipped circular saw blade and apart from the blade being a bit thin, it was OK.
I went with: rough cut to shape, anneal, finish cut and shape as required, harden and temper. Be interested to hear how you get on. All the best with it.

 

[BrokenBiker]

thanks, this wont be the first knofe or edge tool i have made, just not made one from a saw blade such as this one with TCT tips

 

[BrokenBiker]

The Americans are quite keen on turning circular saw blades into hunting knives and the like; 'preppers' and survivalists. There are several examples on the Pinterest web site. I'd be guessing the blade itself would be a decent quality steel, Evolution claim them to be of 'high quality' but that could mean just about anything. I've done it with a 250mm TCT tipped circular saw blade and apart from the blade being a bit thin, it was OK.
I went with: rough cut to shape, anneal, finish cut and shape as required, harden and temper. Be interested to hear how you get on. All the best with it.

i might start ti roughing out tomorrow (maybe tonight if i get time) and will cut a chunk off, get it hot, quench it and see if i can cut it with a file, if not then there is hope...

 

[Austin]

i have seen a guy making a parting tool with saw blades he cut them with a grinder

 

[pedrobedro]

I'd be guessing the blade itself would be a decent quality steel, Evolution claim them to be of 'high quality' but that could mean just about anything.

If the blade is tipped the actual round part will most likely be just mild steel. Stick it in the vice and get a Stilson or something on it and try bending it.

 

[BrokenBiker]

just got round to testing this...cut a small strip off one of the broken teeth, got the end glowing (torch isnt man enough to get much glowing at once) and quenched...glass hard and cant cut it with a file...glowing again and let it cool in air slowly and its as easy to file as mild steel...glowing again and quenched in water and glass hard gain...

best get ordering bits for my forge now so i can harden things properly

 

[Maker]

I cut them up to make parting tools for the lathe.

 

[BrokenBiker]

I cut them up to make parting tools for the lathe.

now i know they harden well enough i am going to crack on and get my forge made, well a small one specifically for knife sized its and i will proably make a small knife and a few other bits.

i also have an 0-1 tool steel knife that i have cut into the right shape, put bevels on etc but have had no way of hardening and tempering the blade as its far too big for my little torch to heat evenly so will get that finished too

 

[outofthefire]

I made a parting off blade and a small kiridashi that's scalpel sharp and holds its edge. A good cheap blade forge can be made from a single soft firebrick. Make a hole all the way through its length and one in the middle of one side. Gas burner goes in the side, blade material goes in the long hole. Even a cheap lidl propane torch gets steel forging hot pretty quickly. I wrapped by fire brick in steel because they get a bit brittle once they've been used a few times.

 

[BrokenBiker]

I made a parting off blade and a small kiridashi that's scalpel sharp and holds its edge. A good cheap blade forge can be made from a single soft firebrick. Make a hole all the way through its length and one in the middle of one side. Gas burner goes in the side, blade material goes in the long hole. Even a cheap lidl propane torch gets steel forging hot pretty quickly. I wrapped by fire brick in steel because they get a bit brittle once they've been used a few times.

i will be making an electric one, can be done for sub 50 quid as i already have steel here for the housing...it will be big enough to take bits fo flat bar and so on so not just limited to knives

 

[chunkolini]

brokenbiker
What you want is big old circular saw blades not the TCT tipped jobbies. They are a much harder grade of steel.
I have a mate who makes very very expensive knives using them.
They can be picked up cheaply from saw Dr's, if you can fine one.

 

[BrokenBiker]

brokenbiker
What you want is big old circular saw blades not the TCT tipped jobbies. They are a much harder grade of steel.
I have a mate who makes very very expensive knives using them.
They can be picked up cheaply from saw Dr's, if you can fine one.

I only want to make a small pocket knife that I'm not worried about abusing...I don't like using my good knives for much apart from skinning or minor butchery...if I have one made from an old blade I don't mind hacking at things with it when needed.

Probably make a small marking blade too as I e wanted one for a while

 

[graffian]

If you want to heat a bit of metal the size of a blade try surrounding the blade with thermalite
blocks to keep the torch heat in. I got a big pile of thermal bricks from
freecycle, useless for anything to do with heating things, I didn't know about storage bricks.
I put a torch on a thermalite block and the heat was reflected back, I have heat treated a 6" lenghs
of silver steel with ease, with out the blocks I was hard put to keep an inch of 1/2" diam silver steel
red hot.
I am guesing the blocks are thermalite, they are big, grey and very light blocks we were given
to build a wall around our road compressor.