Grade 8 bolts

[canders]

I saw on another forum where a guy had made a small clip point out of one but he made no mention of HT or how it held an edge.  Does anyone know what kind of steel this is or the HT process.  I want to make some knives for the guys at my station to carry in their bunker gear.  Thanks in advance for
the info.

Chad

[Lin Rhea]

Chad,
        From what I have read, these bolts are made from a medium carbon steel. Yes, they will harden some and for their application are drawn back slightly softer to add toughness. However, I would guess that they are marginal for a edge holding blade. If you still want to try this, I would forge the blade and harden it in oil first. If it wont harden, try water. Be prepared to make more than one, because water will crack a large percentage of blades. But this steel might be ok, never tried it.
     Test to see if it hardened. If so, now the question is How much do you need to draw it? It could be that this steel will need to be at maximum hardness to be at a decent Rockwell hardness for a knife blade. Thus you might not have to draw it at all. You should be able to tell when you test it with a file.
     You're trying to use a steel with which you are not familiar, and I would recommend another steel, but it probably can be done to some success. Lin

[canders]

Thanks for the advise Lin and I'll probably give a try with one just to see what happens.  I know that working with unknown steel usually leads to marginal results but I just thought a knife out of a cylinder head bolt would be unique.  I just had em laying around and thought what the heck.  Thanks again for the info this site really does have nicest most helpful people on it.  I'll post some pics when I start beating on them.