ok my father inlaw brought home 2 pretty big pieces of stainless home from work for me to make some knives. im not sure what kind of stainless it is, and i have never worked with stainless before. so, do i need to go through the annealing, hardening and tempering process the same as non stainless steels? i know there alot of factors that go into this but i dont know much about types of steel yet(just getting started). so, what would you do to start a couple of big knives out of stainless that you just come across not knowing what type.
Honestly?
Put it to one side until
A) You can find out exactly what itis &
B) Have a little more experience
Stainless can be a pig to HT cycle correctly & it can be more of a pig to work without annealing!
The annealing times/temperatures depend on what grade/atomical makeup the stainless steel actualy is.
You can't treat it the same as simple carbon steels like 01/02 or L6 etc...
Could you find out what the stuff was previously used for?
it was part of a table
beaver#1
probably not the gonna make a good knife
its probably 316 stainless pretty soft stuff
you need to get in the 400 series of stainless
better guality for knives
kevin
ok thanks for the input
But you may want to hang on to the stainless you have, it may make good handle parts (finger guards, spacers, etc.).
Dan
x2 what dan said.