What's new
What's new

Slightly OT: Would a parting tool make a good knife?

crossthread

Titanium
Joined
Aug 5, 2004
Location
Richmond,VA,USA
My grandson wants to make a knife from scratch and he asked me to help him a bit. I am not a knife maker so I have never had to make any decisions about what type of steel to use. My question is, would a parting blade make a good blade for a knife? It already has a bit of taper which should cut down on the labor. It can also be ground until pretty darn hot and not lose edge holding qualities. HSS is some pretty tough stuff but not sure if it would make a good knife for a young boy. Thanks.
 
What grade is the parting tool? M2 tool steel?

If it's M2 it will be brittle enough that the first time you try and pry with it it's going to break. Second question - how are you going to drill holes in it to attach a handle? Hope you have carbide drill bits.
 
The steel characteristics that make a good parting blade are not the same as those for a good knife.

The ability to get quite hot without losing hardness is paramount for the parting blade and other lathe tools and is provided by the high speed steel series that takes higher temperatures to anneal. I've heard it said that it also doesn't take as keen an edge as some other formulations, not a serious drawback for machine work.

Various carbon steels are better for a knife and the heat treatment can balance edge holding versus brittleness. Usually you don't want a knife to break easily if it sees bending pressure. Water hardening steels like a W-1 would work fine. They're more prone to warping during quench than the oil hardening O-1 series, but probably not a biggie for a knife. Both of those should be readily available in different widths and thicknesses and you can harden them yourself with a little setup.

More exotic steels like D-2 are often used for plane irons on better hand planes and is used extensively in manufacturing but you probably don't need the extra expense and possible commercial heat treat requirement.
 
No. A parting tool would make a poor knife. High speed steels are designed to hold hardness at elevated temperatures. That is a situation you will never encounter with a knife. Good knives often have a differential temper with the edge much harder than the back, this would be impossible with HSS.

Every knife maker has a favorite steel, and a list of reasons why the steel he uses is the best.

Is this going to be a ground or forged blade? If ground, a belt grinder is very helpful vs. a wheel grinder. For a first blade S7 may be a good choice. Fairly economical, grinds pretty easy, and is readily available in many sizes.

Pretty boring, but the magic in a good knife is in the heat treating, specifically tempering.
 
Not to be a wet blanket but for a first project I would suggest a commercial blade blank.

Plenty of work to customize the shape if desired, add decorative "jimping", and fit a custom handle with or without a hilt.

After getting his toes wet he might want to try the more from scratch way.

My first knife (from a ready-made stainless blade) was a drop point hunter that I heavily modified including serrating part of the edge, filing decorative contours "jimping", modifying the handle shape and converting one of the rivet holes to a lanyard hole. I mounted a brass trimmed Micarta handle and made a sheath from scratch.
 
I made a straight razor ground from the solid from an old parting blade, worked fine for that. I think it would work just fine for a knife as long as it isn't too long and thin and he's not beating or prying with it. Teach him the right way to use a knife and he should be fine. I would caution you that you should do all that you can to avoid getting the blank very hot while grinding and quenching/cooling it though. Although it won't lose much hardness it can indeed crack, especially in very thin sections. And it takes a perfectly fine edge just the same as plain carbon steel in my experience - as long as you use the right abrasives. You won't be getting an optimal edge with something like an India or Silicon Carbide hone. Diamond or CBN are the way to go. Anything lesser will result in a long time spent trying to sharpen and a pretty ragged edge - which may be where the "less keen edge" info comes from.
 
Last edited:
I made a skinning pattern knife, about a 4" blade out of a front coil spring from a 1955 Buick. Lots of forge, hammer and anvil work but came out pretty nice and holds a good edge. Not a job for the faint of heart and I wouldn't do it again.........Bob
 
Knives make the best blade blanks for beginners. A good starting point is a big, old decent quality carbon steel butcher knife or chef's knife, such as the Old Hickory, Chicago Cutlery, Russell, Dexter, et al. They can be found for cheap at Goodwill, Habitat, or antique stores.

Remove the handles and have him draw several blade and handle profiles which will fit on the existing blade. Decide which he likes best. Trace it on the blade with a fine felt tip pen. Learn grinding control, how to control the heat at the point of grind, polishing, sharpening and all the rudiments. Then, make a handle.

Bottom line, don't invest in the finer points of shaping raw steel, profiling, heat treating, until he's got the basics down reliably.

Once he sees how much grunt work is involved, the first one may satisfy his curiosity. Or, he may be on to a lifetime of scarred fingers.

jack vines
 
An old file can be ground to shape, makes a decent blade,
Areal a small area for drilling. New files are too soft.

There is a good program on TV (forged in Fire), which is a contest for $10K.
 
In high school a friends dad made a crocodile dundee sized knife from a car leaf spring. You could shave with the edge on that thing.
 
I recommend watching this... https://youtu.be/GoNhsPSWabY I assume if you have a spare parting tool, you're better equipt than in the video... still, shows how to make a knife without fancy tools. HSS would make a good knife, but it'll be slow going grinding it into a knife. I believe leaf springs are usually 1095. Pretty much any steel that can be hardened to a reasonable level will work. I think low 50's HRC would be fine.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G891A using Tapatalk
 
This it the best post so far, old file being second best.

Knives make the best blade blanks for beginners. A good starting point is a big, old decent quality carbon steel butcher knife or chef's knife, such as the Old Hickory, Chicago Cutlery, Russell, Dexter, et al. They can be found for cheap at Goodwill, Habitat, or antique stores.

Remove the handles and have him draw several blade and handle profiles which will fit on the existing blade. Decide which he likes best. Trace it on the blade with a fine felt tip pen. Learn grinding control, how to control the heat at the point of grind, polishing, sharpening and all the rudiments. Then, make a handle.

Bottom line, don't invest in the finer points of shaping raw steel, profiling, heat treating, until he's got the basics down reliably.

Once he sees how much grunt work is involved, the first one may satisfy his curiosity. Or, he may be on to a lifetime of scarred fingers.

jack vines
 
I will try to answer a few of your questions. Thanks by the way. Yes I have plenty of carbide tooling to drill through hardened steel. I do not want him to make it out of stainless. I am not a knife maker, as I said, but I have been using knives for sixty years and in my opinion no SS blade will hold an edge like high carbon steel. I will be grinding it on a belt grinder or better yet he will. He is 13 by the way. I thought of using a parting blade because they can withstand a bit of overzealous and amateur grinding without losing a lot of hardness. I have a forge and a large stock of W-1 and O-1 but he is not ready for that sort of thing. I have quite a selection of diamond belts for the grinder so finishing will just be a patience thing. I do have a nice selection of high carbon knives that a retired butcher gave me and I may go the route suggested to just repurpose a blade and let him go at the handle and whatnot. Thanks again.
 
I will try to answer a few of your questions. Thanks by the way. Yes I have plenty of carbide tooling to drill through hardened steel. I do not want him to make it out of stainless. I am not a knife maker, as I said, but I have been using knives for sixty years and in my opinion no SS blade will hold an edge like high carbon steel. I will be grinding it on a belt grinder or better yet he will. He is 13 by the way. I thought of using a parting blade because they can withstand a bit of overzealous and amateur grinding without losing a lot of hardness. I have a forge and a large stock of W-1 and O-1 but he is not ready for that sort of thing. I have quite a selection of diamond belts for the grinder so finishing will just be a patience thing. I do have a nice selection of high carbon knives that a retired butcher gave me and I may go the route suggested to just repurpose a blade and let him go at the handle and whatnot. Thanks again.

I dunno, buck considers s30v to be the absolute best blade steel available...Carbon 1.45%, Chromium 14.00%, Vanadium 4.00%, Molybdenum 2.00%

It's a powdered metal by cruciable...known for stuff like cpm10v and cpm15v
 








 
Back
Top