Samurai Steel

[Tim Creeper]

Hi folks. A question. Has anyone used samurai sword steel to make turning tools. I've had a couple broken blades given to me and was wondering if it would be too brittle (Being tempered) or fabulous.

[dai sensei]

are you sure the broken ones you have are authentic as heaps of cast crappy ones around? As for using as a tool it may be too brittle depending on quality and tempering

make great knives

[Tim Creeper]

hi Neil. They are genuine not cast. You can see the laminations in the polished blade. It looks like wood grain. They are from a trusted source.

[Woodturnerjosh]

I imagine they would be very pretty carbon steel tools that would offer little (if any) advantage over regular carbon steel tools ( and as mentioned probably brittle) and be less than HSS tools.
Can you turn them into knives? I have some hand forged carbon steel Japanese chefs knives that are absolutely fantastic!

Cheers
Josh

[China]

You would have to anneal them re harden and temper them as the as the blades if genuine would not be hardened at a consistent level across the width of the blade,

[Tim Creeper]

Thanks guys. Appreciate your input. It might be knives. I wonder where I could get some nice wood for the handles, Ay Neil.

[Paul39]

Thanks guys. Appreciate your input. It might be knives. I wonder where I could get some nice wood for the handles, Ay Neil.

I have seen nice Asian wood on crates used to ship motorcycles to the US. You can't just walk outside and trim a piece off a dead tree? I think you Aussies are covered up with spectacular timber.

[Tim Creeper]

I have seen nice Asian wood on crates used to ship motorcycles to the US. You can't just walk outside and trim a piece off a dead tree? I think you Aussies are covered up with spectacular timber.

Hi Paul. That was a bit naughty of me. It was young in cheek for Neil coz he knows I've got lots of nice wood. If you have a look at some of my posts on the timber and milling section you'll see what I mean. You're right about ausy wood too.
;)

[dai sensei]

Hi Paul. That was a bit naughty of me. It was young in cheek for Neil coz he knows I've got lots of nice wood. ..

Yep, cheaky, but not much use to you or me when I am in FNQ


...If you have a look at some of my posts on the timber and milling section you'll see what I mean. ..

Says he, who has his own stash of, what now maybe 10-20t :rolleyes: Albeit probably being eaten as we speak by the termites :doh:

Just picked up some petrified wood that would be really good as a handle :cool:. Shame pieces I have aren't big enough, although plenty there, I just didn't want to cart them all around Aus. I may call in on my way back though in a few months if you want me to pick up some more, should polish like glass, but with a lot of work

[Tim Creeper]

Right on all points Neil. Them pesky termites eat stuff. Speaking of which some have got into one of my walnut logs. Don't know how they got in its up on steel and none of it touches any dirt. No tracks up the steels either. I'll have to get to and millit ay. There must be a nest in it somewhere. Mungrals. Be good to see you if you can drop in. A bit of petrified wood wood be nice too
I'll swap you sumfing. Cheers.

[NeilS]

I have experimented using Japanese kanna blades to do a final fine scraping cut instead of using sandpaper. Kanne blades are made with a similar technique to Japanese swords. The steel is high carbon which takes a very fine edge but will not last as long as HSS. Not such an issue for very light shear scraping cuts, but not a contender for any other woodturning tasks, IMO.

As Josh suggests, I would use the broken pieces to make knives.

Do NOT heat treat!!! You will only destroy what a master sword smith has taken decades to learn and achieve. Cool grind to shape the knives.

I can suggest some profiles if you post some pics of the broken sword sections.

[Tim Creeper]

I have experimented using Japanese kanna blades to do a final fine scraping cut instead of using sandpaper. Kanne blades are made with a similar technique to Japanese swords. The steel is high carbon which takes a very fine edge but will not last as long as HSS. Not such an issue for very light shear scraping cuts, but not a contender for any other woodturning tasks, IMO.

As Josh suggests, I would use the broken pieces to make knives.

Do NOT heat treat!!! You will only destroy what a master sword smith has taken decades to learn and achieve. Cool grind to shape the knives.

I can suggest some profiles if you post some pics of the broken sword sections.

Thanks Neil for the info. I'll try to put some pics up tomorrow.

[sells07]

Hi mate, Ive been blacksmithing and knifemaking for a few years now (woodturning is a recent interest) so found your post interesting. A few things first, are you positive that what you have is authentic? Just because it has a woodlike grain does not make it the real deal. Secondly, you said that they are broken blades. How did they break? What does the fracture look like? That will give you info regarding the heat treatment. As for the heat treatment, re treating an unknown steel will likely end in tragedy. However, if its the real deal a process of annealing, normalising and heat treating similar to you would with 1095 steel would be a good start. But this is impossible without a forge. If you wish to sharpen the blades without affecting the heat treatment, you can grind them but do not heat it enough to change the colour. FYI, tempering does not make steel brittle. It actually relieves stress after quench increasing toughness but reducing the hardness.

[Tim Creeper]

Sorry sells07 it's been a while since I was on. Just busy with other things. Yes I am sure they are genuine. As for the break well I got that wrong. On closer inspection they have been cut with an angle grinder. Ooops. I'm thinking that leaving them as blades and adding some nice handles would be a good idea.