what a find 440

franklin

Well-Known Member
hey guys just given a 1/2 inch thick 4 by 10 piece of steel marked 440-ss how many different types of 440 are there? do they all make good blades/ AND DO THEY ALL HEAT TREAT THE SAME? any help would be great so i can figure out what to do with this monster always wanted to do intragel
 
ok did some digging i got 440-a .65 to .75 carbon 440-b .75 to .95 and of course 440-c we all now then theres a 440-f machinability i can not find a carbon count on and does the a/b/c all heat treat the same? help!
 
440C is good stuff. I wouldn't carry a 440A or 440B knife if it was free.

I don't know if what you have is good for blades, but I suspect it would make very good guards and such.
 
well confused now i hear ya james just on a sight and read sog seal knives made from 440-a never owned 1 but never heard anything bad either. but was thinking along with you a just dont seem to have high enough carbon for my taste.
 
A lot of factory knives 440B although they might call it something else. I have little personal experience with Randall knives but they do have a large, loyal following who swear by their knives. It does not have as much carbon as 440C but it will still make a decent blade. As far as I can tell, the heat treatment is the same for 440A, B and C. I did a little looking and I have not found any different treatment specs for A or B.
 
thanks mike i finally pulled up a page for the f series also its the same as 440-c but process of making is different so mach inability is better so it says
 
440A is certainly too soft for many knives but it should also be the most corrosion resistant of the bunch.
Might be a decent steel for diver's knives.
 
I think 440A and B should be pretty good for choppers to. If you want a SS chopper.

Seved
 
A very high percentage of the knives made in china you know the ones they sell for 10 bucks at every mall import store they are made from 440 stainless . They just dont say its 440 A or 440 B because they want you to believe its the better of the three. I dont use 440C but do use CPM 154 and really like its performance.
 
440 grades have fairly wide ranges of carbon content. Any of the 440C still makes a good knife but the difference I've seen in just different suppliers of 440C I would in no way put my name on anything of lesser grade for hunting or other heavy use. The 440A and B used in production knives is what has turned a lot of people away from 440 in custom knives. There is no reason for this as some 440C is as good and has as high or higher carbon content as ATS or 154CM. The sample pieces I got from Carpenter over the last year had an analysis of 1.14 carbon content in their 440C. It is some good stuff too and you can tell the difference when you put one to the test.

As Dan said the other grades may be a good choice for a dive knife. I wouldn't buy any but a free piece may be a good choice for making butter, spread knives, wedding cake knife, etc, for formal events.
 
thanks cliff what a wide veriety of thought on this subject well ithink it will be used for gaurds would hate to make a good nife and have it heat treated to find out it wont hold up thanks everyone for your thoughts still a find for free wont complain.
 
Franklin, If you don't know for sure what it is make a test blade and see how hard it gets and how it cuts. It still may make some good kitchen knives or like I said some cake knives or something.

I just can't see making a custom hunting knife or any knife that will see hard use out of something the cheaper factory knives are made of, it could hurt your reputation more than what you save if it doesn't outperform their Wal-Mart special.
 
yes i agree cliff at a 1/2 inch thick my thought was a entregal and i dont want to put that kind of time to get a good looking walmart knife.could forge it down but i could use the gaurd material
 
brad thinks it would be 440-c cuz its so much more common then the others but would you take the time to make integral if you don't now for sure or should i call it practice and hope it comes out 440-c brad said he could tell after heat treat was done what you think cliff
 
If you got the time to put in to it and been wanting to make an integral it would be hard to pass up trying. If your talking some real fancy integral that would never be used anyway it really wouldn't matter what grade it is unless the buyer cared. Why not just cut a small chunk off the corner and ht it during a run of other stuff?
 
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