Thread: drill bit razor

i got a couple of old drill bits and plan on forging some razors and a small knife from them
any tips ?

Supposably drill bits are made from a heat resistant Steel. You'll need a higher temperature heat treat and temper cycle. It would definitely help to find out the metallurgy of the drillbit that your useing

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Off the top of my head I'd say shoot a PM to Mike Blue, Bruno, and to Charlie Lewis. They are quite accomplished at forging steel and could probably give you something to go with. Just send a link to the thread so we could all share in the knowledge.

I can hear the voice in my head saying "It depends." I second the request to know the type of drill bit and its purpose. O-1 has been called "drill rod" for good reasons in the past but it makes fine razors. If you have some bits made of high speed steel (M2-M42) you will have an interesting time. Not impossible but certainly interesting.

i have no idea about the bits because they are all either broken off where the marks where or rusted over

I don't like scrapping perfectly good steel. You can learn a lot by forging and HT'ing mystery steels. And you can have fun. If the rent depends on your efforts you risk some heartbreak with unknown materials.

Like mike said it depends
Drill bits can be anything and heat treatment will be a complete unpredictable hit or miss thing.

A spark test may help with the guessing. A bright spark with a lot of staring would have me guessing High carbon steel. An orange spark with little staring and my guess would be high speed steel.

Originally Posted by bluesman7

A spark test may help with the guessing. ...

Indeed a fine method for someone who has a grinder. You could make a pretty close estimate without a lot of technical knowledge. This is but one example of a site with good information. Scroll down a bit for a simple picture of sparks. Properties and Testing of Metals

i know some of my bits are hss because i got them from school when they broke
i even forged a skinning knife from two by forge welding them together then mig welding the back and sides so the blade wouldn't be brittle then forged the welds
i traded it for a leg of roo meat