Blade Steel

d37fan

Active Member
A friend of mine works maintenance at a sawmill and I am the lucky recipient of two 24" sawmill blades that are 3/16" thick. They have carbide teeth. What are the chances they are made from L-6 steel? If not what might they be?
Dale
 
Sorry, but I do not know. However I just went through something similar with a big ole' band saw type rip saw blade (almost 30' long when split and approx. 6" front to back). I found the manufacturer on line and they were nice enough to tell me what steel they use. See if your friend can check the packaging on one of their new blades to see who made it and if there are any identifying numbers, such as a specific model # or something. You may get lucky. If you do track them down, let them know what you are planning to do with the steel, so they know you are not a competitor on a fishing trip for info. Good luck!
 
With carbide teeth I would not hold my breath. The steel is likely selected to withstand bending and warping at operating temp, with cost and ease of production being the other main considerations. Edge holding is not a necessary feature in this application.
 
With carbide teeth I would not hold my breath. The steel is likely selected to withstand bending and warping at operating temp, with cost and ease of production being the other main considerations. Edge holding is not a necessary feature in this application.

I agree. The carbide is doing the cutting, not the meat holding the carbide. Therefore, the meat part is probably nothing special. A good thing to do though would be to call the blade manufacturer and ask.
 
In my opinion, you'd be money ahead to just go ahead and spend a few bucks on some decent KNOWN blade steel that's already been annealed and prepped for making a knife. By the time you go through the effort of cleaning up the steel, annealing it, trying to straighten it out and do anyother prep work on it (which may even involve burning up a few drill bits and wearing out some other tools), you still may not even know the "exact" makeup of the steel and will have no way of knowing if you're getting a truly optimum heat treat or performance from the steel.

Known blade steel is going to respond consistently and predictably. Free steel is nice, but unless you know exactly what it is and how it will perform, chances are it's going to cost you more in the long run. If not money, then surely time and headaches.
 
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