Really odd question about a barbell

[tkav1980]

I just bought a 300 lb set of weights from dicks, just for the plates. It came with an oly bar with a 310 lb limit.
I googled and found no info. Would anyone happen to know the composition of the steel?
I dont want to cut it up to forge knives if it isn't something I can harden and temper.
I know its an odd and specific question I just don't want to destroy it for a project if ut won't work in the first place.

 

[cm]

had one of those from dicks for prob 20 years. still holds weight
a little bent, but its held 300+ for all of that time

 

[tkav1980]

had one of those from dicks for prob 20 years. still holds weight
a little bent, but its held 300+ for all of that time

I want to use it to forge knives, but with my set up, I need a high carbon steel, some specific stainless or a tool steel, for it to harden and temper properly

 

[cm]

misunderstood )

 

[alfresco]

I want to use it to forge knives, but with my set up, I need a high carbon steel, some specific stainless or a tool steel, for it to harden and temper properly

As an ex-knife forger and published author on it, I know a little bit about
steel suitable for knives. And an Olympic bar is not one of them. Save
your time and energy and get some good tool steel. I have posted about
this with fotos. Just do a quick search and you will find it if you have not
already seen it.

PM me if you have any questions. I am happy to help you.

 

[Samson250]

Maybe post a pic and see if one of these guys has any idea. The powerlifting guys especially might know.

 

[tkav1980]

As an ex-knife forger and published author on it, I know a little bit about
steel suitable for knives. And an Olympic bar is not one of them. Save
your time and energy and get some good tool steel. I have posted about
this with fotos. Just do a quick search and you will find it if you have not
already seen it.

PM me if you have any questions. I am happy to help you.

Thanks Alfresco. Usually I just get my steel from Admiral steel or USA knifemaker. This bar just came with the plates I needed so I thought it might be a cool project.
With my propane forge, I can only get accurate enough with heat treat with very forgiving steels like 1080, 1075, 1095( about 50% of the time) and O1. Ocassionally I'll use cpm3v and send it to peters heat treat.

If it won't be something I can work with, I'll just sell the bar. I dont need it anyway.

 

[alfresco]

Thanks Alfresco. Usually I just get my steel from Admiral steel or USA knifemaker. This bar just came with the plates I needed so I thought it might be a cool project.
With my propane forge, I can only get accurate enough with heat treat with very forgiving steels like 1080, 1075, 1095( about 50% of the time) and O1. Ocassionally I'll use cpm3v and send it to peters heat treat.

If it won't be something I can work with, I'll just sell the bar. I dont need it anyway.

Well, go ahead and use the bar then. You might be surprised at how
well it turns out. I was working a journeyman machinist at the time
I was making knives so I had a good supply of tool steel at my disposal.
Many of my knives were made from discarded endmills and worn plug
gages, bearings from jet engines, essentially any steel I thought would
make a good knife. And I also forged a fair amount of stainless steel.

I also had access to Rockwell hardness tester which told me if I was
achieving the desired hardness. Have yours tested if you can.

I forged and heat treated all my knives in a coal fired forge. And I used
a high-temp thermometer at accurately gauge temperature for forging
and heat treating. This is a must in my opinion if you want to do this your-
self. Easy.

 

[LK3]

I want to use it to forge knives, but with my set up, I need a high carbon steel, some specific stainless or a tool steel, for it to harden and temper properly

no it is not the correct steel that you need. you can buy knife making steels from specific metal places.

best to forge carbon steel, not stainless.

 

[buck]

Cheap bars can be made and hardened differently so there is no guarantee. Some cheap Chinese steels can actually be harder as they have access to high quality steels that are cheaper to start with.

 

[tenny]

As an ex-knife forger and published author on it, I know a little bit about
steel suitable for knives. And an Olympic bar is not one of them. Save
your time and energy and get some good tool steel. I have posted about
this with fotos. Just do a quick search and you will find it if you have not
already seen it.

PM me if you have any questions. I am happy to help you.

yes......stick to spring steel.....leaf springs.....5160...1095

also file steel make good blades....old file steel blades...



send me the bar....ill pay shipping

 

[Samson250]

Anyone see that Australian guy on YouTube who goes dumpster diving for material and forges bars? It came up once on my algorithm and I’ve been watching his channel. He seems to have a pretty good set up from the looks of it. Must be hard to do cause he often has redo’s until he gets the final product quality he wants.

 

[alfresco]

yes......stick to spring steel.....leaf springs.....5160...1095

also file steel make good blades....old file steel blades...



send me the bar....ill pay shipping

Yes, 'spring steel" or leaf springs can make good knives if they have
enough carbon to hold an edge and be wear resistant.

My knives were very hard, high on the Rockwell scale and I had to
purchase diamond laps to sharpen them.

tkav1980, do your get a hardness report report back from the heat
treaters? I would expect that as part of the service. I would be curious
to know what hardness you are getting back.

Files are great too but I would stick to, like you said, the older ones.
Check some of knife making forums for brand names. Many of the
new files are case hardened so if your are just grinding a knife to
shape (stock removal method, not forging) they would be less that
desirable, softer in the middle. That has been my experience at least.

Contrary to what has been said, stainless steel, the correct kind, makes
some of the best blades (thank your chromium carbide). Years ago when
I was forging knives, the Japanese were making the best stainless steel
available but it was tough, making it difficult to forge. My hammer would
just bounce off the red hot steel, it was that tough. You can tell a lot
about steel when you forge it. But boy-oh-boy did they make great,
corrosion resistant knives (again, thank you chromium carbide). Another
great on is BG42, if you can find it. I think it is a high carbon stainless
steel with some vanadium (?) thrown in for additional hardness / wear
resistance.

There is a fine line between hardness and tempering with much having
to do with your application. There are so many different kinds of
steels out there but many of the good ones are gone due to their limited
usage. I really miss those days laboring over that hot fire, noodling
with fire and the hammers, shaping the steel. Good times.

If any of you two (tenny, tkav1980) want to try a bar of F7 (I kept a
bunch, it difficult to find the last time I checked), pm me and will send
you a bar. (I'll pay shipping ) I comes hardened. It was one of my
favorite tool steels. Very very tough and impact resistant. They used to,
and maybe still do, use it for the blades in wood chippers and other
applications in the construction biz. It was easy to find back then but
don't know about now, if it is findable.

Good to see you posting again Tenny. Missed you. I will PM you and we
can get caught up.

 

[tenny]

Yes, 'spring steel" or leaf springs can make good knives if they have
enough carbon to hold an edge and be wear resistant.

My knives were very hard, high on the Rockwell scale and I had to
purchase diamond laps to sharpen them.

tkav1980, do your get a hardness report report back from the heat
treaters? I would expect that as part of the service. I would be curious
to know what hardness you are getting back.

Files are great too but I would stick to, like you said, the older ones.
Check some of knife making forums for brand names. Many of the
new files are case hardened so if your are just grinding a knife to
shape (stock removal method, not forging) they would be less that
desirable, softer in the middle. That has been my experience at least.

Contrary to what has been said, stainless steel, the correct kind, makes
some of the best blades (thank your chromium carbide). Years ago when
I was forging knives, the Japanese were making the best stainless steel
available but it was tough, making it difficult to forge. My hammer would
just bounce off the red hot steel, it was that tough. You can tell a lot
about steel when you forge it. But boy-oh-boy did they make great,
corrosion resistant knives (again, thank you chromium carbide). Another
great on is BG42, if you can find it. I think it is a high carbon stainless
steel with some vanadium (?) thrown in for additional hardness / wear
resistance.

There is a fine line between hardness and tempering with much having
to do with your application. There are so many different kinds of
steels out there but many of the good ones are gone due to their limited
usage. I really miss those days laboring over that hot fire, noodling
with fire and the hammers, shaping the steel. Good times.

If any of you two (tenny, tkav1980) want to try a bar of F7 (I kept a
bunch, it difficult to find the last time I checked), pm me and will send
you a bar. (I'll pay shipping ) I comes hardened. It was one of my
favorite tool steels. Very very tough and impact resistant. They used to,
and maybe still do, use it for the blades in wood chippers and other
applications in the construction biz. It was easy to find back then but
don't know about now, if it is findable.

Good to see you posting again Tenny. Missed you. I will PM you and we
can get caught up.

Alfresco......nice to hear from you......i hard use most of my knives and prefer 54 to 58 rockwell
anything harder like D2 SV35 or others i tend to break them.....but im learning to use certain
knife steels for certain tasks...so that is helping.....lol benchmade sent me an email that they would no longer
replace or fix any i send them....esee of course uses 1095 and seems to work well with me...never a broken blade
and believe me, ive put my esee 5 through the wringer but the thing just keep workin

talk soon

 

[benchmstr]

I just bought a 300 lb set of weights from dicks, just for the plates. It came with an oly bar with a 310 lb limit.
I googled and found no info. Would anyone happen to know the composition of the steel?
I dont want to cut it up to forge knives if it isn't something I can harden and temper.
I know its an odd and specific question I just don't want to destroy it for a project if ut won't work in the first place.

It will work fine...just don’t throw the weight.

I have bent the shit out of academy/dicks bars before...both bars I bent were from doing dynamic effort style speed on bent over rows and bench.

I actually kept one of them for a while and used it as a ghetto buffalo bar.

but bodybuilding style constant tension reps won’t hurt it usually..start adding speed or any type of impact(dead’s,rack pulls, pin push) it’ll break...but the collars will probably fail before it bends

 

[tkav1980]

Yes, 'spring steel" or leaf springs can make good knives if they have
enough carbon to hold an edge and be wear resistant.

My knives were very hard, high on the Rockwell scale and I had to
purchase diamond laps to sharpen them.

tkav1980, do your get a hardness report report back from the heat
treaters? I would expect that as part of the service. I would be curious
to know what hardness you are getting back.

Files are great too but I would stick to, like you said, the older ones.
Check some of knife making forums for brand names. Many of the
new files are case hardened so if your are just grinding a knife to
shape (stock removal method, not forging) they would be less that
desirable, softer in the middle. That has been my experience at least.

Contrary to what has been said, stainless steel, the correct kind, makes
some of the best blades (thank your chromium carbide). Years ago when
I was forging knives, the Japanese were making the best stainless steel
available but it was tough, making it difficult to forge. My hammer would
just bounce off the red hot steel, it was that tough. You can tell a lot
about steel when you forge it. But boy-oh-boy did they make great,
corrosion resistant knives (again, thank you chromium carbide). Another
great on is BG42, if you can find it. I think it is a high carbon stainless
steel with some vanadium (?) thrown in for additional hardness / wear
resistance.

There is a fine line between hardness and tempering with much having
to do with your application. There are so many different kinds of
steels out there but many of the good ones are gone due to their limited
usage. I really miss those days laboring over that hot fire, noodling
with fire and the hammers, shaping the steel. Good times.

If any of you two (tenny, tkav1980) want to try a bar of F7 (I kept a
bunch, it difficult to find the last time I checked), pm me and will send
you a bar. (I'll pay shipping ) I comes hardened. It was one of my
favorite tool steels. Very very tough and impact resistant. They used to,
and maybe still do, use it for the blades in wood chippers and other
applications in the construction biz. It was easy to find back then but
don't know about now, if it is findable.

Good to see you posting again Tenny. Missed you. I will PM you and we
can get caught up.

I usually look for 57-62 Rockwell. Carbon steels like 1095 and 01, I test with a piece of flint. If it throws sparks and im usually good to go.
I may have an old reciept somewhere from Peter's heat treat. Its been about 5 or 6 years since I sent anything out to them. Ill see if I can find it and post it, as I believe it had the Rockwell on it.

 

[alfresco]

No need to post the cert, I believe you.

HRC 62 is pretty good. That is about what I shot for. Maybe a bit more,
but material dependent. Hardness and wear resistance are two different
things (many people don't know this), interrelated to some degree but
are very different.

What do you use to sharpen your knifes? There is a thread on 'hobbies'
where I go into great detail about my knife making and sharpening,
including fotos.

I had a couple of Puma knives which I have since given way; a boot knife
(rare) and a swing guard (wish I still had it). I know the boot knife had a
hardness cert and an indent where it was tested. Don't remember the HRC
number. (The Puma fotos are not of my knifes.)

Funny, interesting story.

I made a kitchen knife for a friend years ago. It was a slab style and I am
not sure what kind of steel I used, may have been BG42. I had not seen
him in probably 25 years but somehow we got back in touch. A year or so
later, after that he lost his house (and everything in it) in the Tubbs Fire,
he went back and dug through rubble, he found the knife I had made him
and he gave it back it me. The heat had melted the handles off and distorted
the blade but believe it or not it was still sharp, not razor sharp, but very sharp.
Check out the fotos I just took of it. It looks like garbage but it is still sharp.

 

[Painfulldayz]

It will work fine...just don’t throw the weight.

I have bent the shit out of academy/dicks bars before...both bars I bent were from doing dynamic effort style speed on bent over rows and bench.

I actually kept one of them for a while and used it as a ghetto buffalo bar.

but bodybuilding style constant tension reps won’t hurt it usually..start adding speed or any type of impact(dead’s,rack pulls, pin push) it’ll break...but the collars will probably fail before it bends

I think he’s talking about making knives out of it. Not using it to workout. Lmao

 

[Gunsmith]

Yea the bar is probably a cheap steel that won't harden well judging by the cost.
I'd just sell it and use what you make for some known tool steel.
End mills , drills and files are great and pretty ready available. I'll look around the shop and see what I have left. A couple of my coworkers make knives as well and keep me pretty picked clean but they leave some of the bigger bits alone

 

[tkav1980]

No need to post the cert, I believe you.

HRC 62 is pretty good. That is about what I shot for. Maybe a bit more,
but material dependent. Hardness and wear resistance are two different
things (many people don't know this), interrelated to some degree but
are very different.

What do you use to sharpen your knifes? There is a thread on 'hobbies'
where I go into great detail about my knife making and sharpening,
including fotos.

I had a couple of Puma knives which I have since given way; a boot knife
(rare) and a swing guard (wish I still had it). I know the boot knife had a
hardness cert and an indent where it was tested. Don't remember the HRC
number. (The Puma fotos are not of my knifes.)

Funny, interesting story.

I made a kitchen knife for a friend years ago. It was a slab style and I am
not sure what kind of steel I used, may have been BG42. I had not seen
him in probably 25 years but somehow we got back in touch. A year or so
later, after that he lost his house (and everything in it) in the Tubbs Fire,
he went back and dug through rubble, he found the knife I had made him
and he gave it back it me. The heat had melted the handles off and distorted
the blade but believe it or not it was still sharp, not razor sharp, but very sharp.
Check out the fotos I just took of it. It looks like garbage but it is still sharp.

On the initial grind, I grind completely freehand and sharpen on the slack part of the belt very lightly to give it a scandivex grind. Then I polish on a scotchbrite wheel to shaving sharp.
After that, I simply strop after each use and if it gets bad, I go to Japanese water stones to reset the bevel if needed.
For a simple honing, ill either strop or if im in a hurry in the kitchen, I just use a coffee cup.
In the woods, I carry a paddle strop and just keep it sharp. If I nick it, I have a lansky's stone that makes it usable in the field.

Here's the last one I made with 1095.