Question: Stainless

[CRW]

A friend of mine in Tennessee owns a large machine shop. I will be up there next week. I know he has a large scrap pile. My question is: what grade of stainless is best for practice and cutting? I am sure if I ask him for a certain grade of stainless, he will have some scrap that he will give me.
I just found out that I would be up there this afternoon, I am leaving Monday morning, so a speedy response would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance

 

[pilkguns]

303 and 304 is gummy but cuttable, and you will see a lot of knives out of it. 410 or 416 is preferred to cut, but if your practicing get some of both.

 

[Andrew Biggs]

Machine shops may not have the desired stainless. Some have a tendancey to use industrial grade stainless for bench tops etc etc etc.

Take your graver with you and make some test cuts as some of that industrial grade stainless is not worth the hassle.

If he has mild steel then fill the back of your truck up with it!!!

Cheers
Andrew

 

[monk]

another test, generally if a magnet will stick to it, it is usually ok to engrave-- less of the hard stuff in it.

 

[quickcut07]

Andrew is right about the steels. I run a crew in a fab shop and we throw out hundreds of pounds of steel every day. Look for some flat bar 1/8 '' to 1'' in thickness any width in carbon steel or CRS grade. I love the stuff to engrave, it's easy on gravers and nice to cut. Gives beautiful bright cuts catching the light nicely. Give it a light sand, polish it to a shine, on use a bead blaster on it. The three surface finishes set of your work quite differantly. Don't shy away from a little stainless but I would stick to the 400's for something you want to put a lot of work into and use the 304's and such for simpler designs.
Check to see if there is some Brass or aluminum as well. Another thing to check is if they have an ironworker press. It punches out the bolt holes in all sizes up to 1-1/2''. Gives you lots of circles to engrave. Hope this helps.

 

[Weldon47]

Carl,

Get a variety of what he has there and be sure to mark what it is on the backside of the samples so you will know. Take it home and practice cutting on each sample and then YOU will find out what is easy & what is not. The series (300-400, etc, etc...) is one thing to consider; another is "how has it been tempered" or how "hard" is it? If you want to experience what "hard" stainless steel feels like, grab a hold of a Ruger stainless shotgun & you will see what I mean!

WL

 

[CRW]

Thanks to all for the most valuable information. I have saved all the information for future reference, it will come in handy when I forget all the answers you gave me. LOL. Am getting older you know. :big grin:

Andrew: I may have to take your advise, then get a bigger truck.

Again guys the answers you gave me were awesome, Thanks.

 

[Andrew Biggs]

Hi Carl

Yip, a bigger truck always comes in handy

It's amzing how machine shop scrap bins become really interesting places to hang out!!!!

Ray Cover wrote a really good summary of the different stainless steels some time ago. I'm not sure where it is but I remember saving it on my home computer so if I can find it I'll post it back up again as it was really good info to have.

Cheers
Andrew

 

[Sam]

416 and 410 are very nice for engraving, with 416 being the standard in custom knifemaking. It's not a blade material, but is used for bolsters, frames, guards, etc.

 

[Glenn]

I spent some time last week with Scott Sawby. He told us that many knife engravers prefer heat treated 416 stainless. His wife Marrian (who does a fantastic job of engraving Scott's knives) prefers the heat treated 416. I was a little caught off guard because I didn't know that 416 was heat treatable. It's tough to argue with success!

 

[Peter E]

I spent some time last week with Scott Sawby. He told us that many knife engravers prefer heat treated 416 stainless. His wife Marrian (who does a fantastic job of engraving Scott's knives) prefers the heat treated 416. I was a little caught off guard because I didn't know that 416 was heat treatable. It's tough to argue with success!

Interesting. I did not know 416 was sometimes heat treated either. I would ALSO believe it coming from the Sawby's, as I am a huge admirer of Scott's knives and Marian's engraving.

 

[Sam]

Some of the makers heat treat 416. While this sounds scary to an engraver, it makes little difference. I believe they heat treat it so it will polish better. But not to worry, it still engraves beautifully. / ~Sam

 

[fred carter]

416 heat treated

416ss heat treated and tempered at 1100f engraves very well, actually better than in the fully annealed state - I now heat treat all fittings made from 416. Not only does it cut better it will be much more resistant to scratching. When I first started using 416 I annealed it before use the knives I made with it where mostly mirror polished they scratched so easily that even just handling them would leave tiny scratches. After that I started heat treating all 416 parts and it proved to be much more scratch resistant. The easiest way to work it is to heat treat the bars first then make the fittings. I think that 1100f should give a hardness around Rc 22 or so.

 

[CRW]

Just returned from Tennessee last night. My friend did not have any stainless available. But he did give me a shoe box full of 1051 steel. These pieces are 1-1/2 inches by 2-1/2 inches, just right for practicing. The box was so heavy that we had to put it on a piece of wood to keep the box in tact. I should have enough to last me at least a couple years.
Thanks guys for all the advise and knowledge that you have posted in this thread. It will be very helpful in the future.