When I was still in school I got a job in the machine shop of a
small manufacture, clean up man. There was a old machinist
that taught me to make knives out of power hack saw blades.
This was in 60s and most power hacksaw blades were only
tempered on the teeth. This is the section that would hold a
edge. When your blade left parallel with teeth you would lose
the benifit of the tempered edge. He had two tests he preformed
on any stray metal I drug in for blade making. See how well it
held a magnet and he would put it on grinder to "read" the spark.
Cutting blanks from a circular saw blade is kind of iffy too, most
aren't tool steel, and if you heat them up with a cutting tool you
can ruin any temper they have. If you can't temper the steel you
are wasting your time. The last knife I made used a industrial
chipper blade, already a piece of tempered steel that held a fine
edge.
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