stainless steel for big knives

[beaver#1]

ok my father inlaw brought home 2 pretty big pieces of stainless home from work for me to make some knives.  im not sure what kind of stainless it is, and i have never worked with stainless before.  so,  do i need to go through the annealing, hardening and tempering process the same as non stainless steels?  i know there alot of factors that go into this but i dont know much about types of steel yet(just getting started).  so, what would you do to start a couple of big knives out of stainless that you just come across not knowing what type.

[robtattoo]

Honestly?
Put it to one side until
A) You can find out exactly what itis &
B) Have a little more experience

Stainless can be a pig to HT cycle correctly & it can be more of a pig to work without annealing!
The annealing times/temperatures depend on what grade/atomical makeup the stainless steel actualy is.
You can't treat it the same as simple carbon steels like 01/02 or L6 etc...

Could you find out what the stuff was previously used for?

[beaver#1]

it was part of a table

[KHALVERSON]

beaver#1
probably not the gonna make a good knife
its probably 316 stainless  pretty soft stuff
you need to get  in the 400 series of stainless
better guality for knives
kevin

[beaver#1]

ok thanks for the input

[OconeeDan]

But you may want to hang on to the stainless you have, it may make good handle parts (finger guards, spacers, etc.).
Dan

[theunluckyhunter]

x2 what dan said.