Can you harden camshaft Steel?

[WinDancer]

Having a new camshaft put in the truck.

Will camshaft steel harden or just take a surface hardening?

Anyone know what kind of steel the early [1968] big block cams are made from?

I would like to make 3 or 5 knives from the old cam.

Don't want to put in 40 or 50 hours and then find out it is mild steel

Thanks!

[Ivan D.]

I think the bearing races are already surface hardened, dunno about the rest of the cam tho, probably not, it don't really need to be hardened, which saves the manufacturer some on the production costs.

[Tx Firefighter]

The cam is quite soft. During the initial break in period, the lifters riding on the lobes causes them to work harden the outer few thousandths.

Thats why it is so important to properly break in a camshaft.

That's also why when a lobe begins to wear a bit, once it breaks through the surface hardened area, it wears very rapidly, sometimes removing the whole eccentric till the lobe is near round.

[LONGHAIR]

Cams are case hardened, leading one to believe that they are made with a low carbon steel to maintain enough toughness to resist breaking. So the metal quality you are seeking (higher carbon/hardness) is just not there.

Any ordinary flat-tappet camshaft is a casting that is fairly small in diameter, how big of a piece could you get anyway? How would you get it out? Bandsawing slabs? Seems like a lot of effort for a questionable bit of metal, especially considering the surface hardening.

[WinDancer]

Thanks, guys, I won't waste my time.
I have a forge, an air hammer, Borax and a metal cutting bandsaw. I have several friends with plasma cutters. So getting the right size is the easy part. When you forge weld you can get any size and shape you want. But not with mild steel.
Thanks again

[jimfulco]

Last I heard, stock flat-tappet Chevy cams are made from cast iron.