swann and morton scalpel blades

[sandsnakes]

Hi chaps,

I have about 2kg of Swann and Morton scalpel blades and I want to forge them into a bushie blade. Has anyone any idea what grade steel they are, carbon content etc? All information recived will be most useful.

Has anybody tried this before?

Thank you

Sandsnakes

 

[Samon]

I've heard of someone melting down some chainsaw blades and making a big knife, but not scalple blades! sounds good though and I hope you do a picture heavy walkthrough of it all!

 

[Mesquite]

Haven't the faintest idea but I'd love to see the process and resulting blade

 

[crosslandkelly]

+1 to the above.

 

[bushwacker bob]

scalpels are usually 'surgical' steel ( guess why its called that)
surgical steel is stainless.

 

[Expat]

BB's spot on.... they are surgical steel - to make ANYTHING out of them you will need a commercial steel factory....

 

[Retired Member southey]

I guess it depends on the blade number Rod, SM produce quite a range of scalpel blades from both stainless and carbon steelgoing from their own accreditaions page,

http://www.swann-morton.com/accreditations.php

 

[abominable_scouse_monster]

I've heard of someone melting down some chainsaw blades and making a big knife, but not scalple blades! sounds good though and I hope you do a picture heavy walkthrough of it all!

I have seen Damascus bike chain blanks before, odd pattern but nice.

 

[sandsnakes]

As usual The Great Southey has it right :notworthy Its official you will now be known as TGS

The blades I am using are all 'non sterile carbon steel'. Also have some silver steel and copper handled acupuncture needles i may throw in as well. going to be some interesting paterns on the blade when done. So its just a question of what carbon/steel ratio I think. I will post photos of both triumphs and disasters.

Roderick

 

[sandsnakes]

And the Guru of sharp things, Dave Budd, has been on to Swann

........Spoke to old school Sheffield toolmaker who told me that it is a 1.2% carbon steel with a little manganese and a touch or chrome. He is going to dig out the actual spec and email it to me on monday. So it looks like a nice high carbon and dark etching component to the billet. Should work out well for our purposes......

Oh the itch and desire is upon me!

Sandsnakes

 

[Samon]

sweet! when will you start?

 

[Retired Member southey]

That's sounds coolio Rod!

 

[Stew]

I love the idea but it sounds like a painful job!

I've made a blade from a bike chain once and attempted another couple.

The thin sections had a tendency to peel off while forging!

What are you going to mix them with and how are you planning to hold them together?

I've never tried it but I would think forging them in a cannister might be a good idea?

 

[sandsnakes]

TGS I plan on doing a cannister under the eye of Dave Budd. Just looking around for the time at the moment. Probably going to be a small drop point bowie shape. But lets see what the hammer produces.
Dave.... 'Hmmm, that looks interesting!' Me...'Yeah, my mum will be so pleased with a kukuri sized and shape tin opener and cat poo scraper for christmas!'

S

 

[Joel_m]

Don't know if its any help but I work in pharma manufacture and our plant is made of a "surgical" grade stainless steel, but its a very ambiguous term as it covers many stainless steel types. The most common (and used in Pharma) is grade 316L. The L means low carbon if I remember correctly and its usually around 0.03%.

This doesn't however mean your blades are stainless steel as it depends what they were purchased for. If they are dissection blades they are likely carbon steel (cheaper and doesn't often require being corrosion resistance) .. if they were sterile surgical blades they are more than likely stainless. But could still be either as both are used depending on the application.

Depends how much trouble you want to go to but... if you see if one rusts then you'll know which it is and can probably find what grade of steel swann and morton use for each type... or if there is a lot number on the packet you could email them and ask for a CofA (certificate of analysis) for the blades including the steel certs. Most companies will provide these (and as a registered medical device have to hold the documents for up to 10 years). I have asked companies for material of construction certs before for 316L grade stainless and got back documents all the way too the original foundry analysis from the manufacture of the raw steel!

I do know certain (any very rarely) scalpel blades can be made out of materials like 316Ti and that stuff if tough for high grade stainless...

Hope this helps in some way... (I'm sure someone will come along and correct me on something above)!

 

[Dave Budd]

the whole thing about 'surgical steel' or 'surgical grade' is like saying 'wooden tree', means diddly squat I'm afraid! All it means is that the material is made to a specification that is known to be medically safe for that purpose. Surgical grade stainless will be a different alloy depending whether it is a scalpel, an inplant, a non-edged tool (speculum, for example), kidney bowl, etc, etc.

The Swann-Morton blades are either a carbon steel that is identical in chemistry to silver steel, or a stainless steel. The stainless one is likely to be one of the 440 range, most likely 440c I would think, but I didn't ask since that wasn't pertinant to the project in hand

 

[bushwacker bob]

the whole thing about 'surgical steel' or 'surgical grade' is like saying 'wooden tree', means diddly squat I'm afraid! All it means is that the material is made to a specification that is known to be medically safe for that purpose. Surgical grade stainless will be a different alloy depending whether it is a scalpel, an inplant, a non-edged tool (speculum, for example), kidney bowl, etc, etc.

The Swann-Morton blades are either a carbon steel that is identical in chemistry to silver steel, or a stainless steel. The stainless one is likely to be one of the 440 range, most likely 440c I would think, but I didn't ask since that wasn't pertinant to the project in hand

That clarified it Dave, its made out of metal then?

Sandsnakes,if you put a magnet on it carbon steel will stick to it, stainless wont.