I have a 1" x about 10" piece of 1045 I’ve been thinking about forging into a knife, which would be my first go at forging, but I don’t know enough about metalurgy to know whether it would be worth a crap or not.
Any thoughts on that?
I recommend checking out the website Knife Steel Nerds - Metallurgy and Testing of Knives and Steel
He is a metallurgist and has a bunch of info on heat treating. He recommends using a temp controlled oven over real forging for heat treat.
I don’t know if 1045 would work as knife steel, but 1084 and 1095 are commonly used.
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SAE-AISI 1045 Steel vs. SAE-AISI 1084 Steel :: MakeItFrom.com
1045 has about half the carbon of 1084 - may make it harder to harden to a decent level.
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Thanks! Im going to have some reading to do!
if you think you can get to 56-58 Hrc, that’s probably good. It’s a bit soft for an edge, but would be serviceable and sharpen-able.
If I can get to a pointy thing that doesn’t look like a sad injured penis I’ll be happy! 
I’ve seen enough forged in fire to know how bad this can go!
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Fun fact: In the original books, Hannibal Lecter used a Spyderco Harpy. If I remember correctly, there was a scene with an interesting upper-leg anatomy lesson.
Well, thanks for making me spend $130. Give it a week and I’m posting liver, fava beans, and metabolic drive in the food porn thread.
Random fact I was saving for later, but why the hell not - Hannibal was likely being treated with MAOIs, and guess what you’re not supposed to eat when you’re taking them? Liver, raw meat, beans, and wine.
So he’s basically saying he’s off his meds.
I think it’s a clever food joke.
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I don’t know if the author had that mind but I’m choosing to believe it because it’s brilliant.
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It’s starting.
I got the plain edge one because 1.) It’s shown in the movie, and 2.) Serrated knives suck for anything except rope and bread.
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Wife got me a nice birthday gift. I like Benchmade knives. It’s the auto Osborne.
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That’s awesome! I love benchmade knives.
I’ve been wanting the “auto” version of that knife but they were sold out for awhile. It’s a cool switchblade for sure .
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Since I have 97 knives/cutting instruments (yes, I counted), and my wife has none, I decided to get her a cute one for our anniversary, and we like camping so I thought she might like one of her own.
Then I fucked up and pissed her off the next day.
If I stop posting, you know what happened, and I brought it on myself.
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A practical field test for that blade…
moved comment
Used it to cut his shirt off after one of our guys shot him. Hit in the lungs. We patched him up and saved his life.
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