Question for you knife makers

I have a question about the type of steel required to make a good blade. I work at a steel plant and am in the steel casting dept. On my particular machine, we cast structural steel, specifically A-36/572 steel. It is used to make I-beams for bhildings and bridges.My question is, is this grade of steel suitable, to work up a mold for a knife blank or hatchet head and cast it to form?

No that's considered mild steel; not enough carbon to make a good knife.

What base carbon residuals should I be looking for? We have 2 other casting machines that make many more grades. Stuff for rail tie (railroad tracks) and all kinds of other stuff. Not to mention that we have raw carbon products on site that I have access to.

Lots of variables in knife making steel carbon content is only one; that's one reason there are only a handful of GOOD knife making steel suppliers. My self I only buy my steel from New Jersey Steel Baron.
Read below link,

https://www.tharwavalleyforge.com/articles/reference/43-properties-of-carbon-steel

1. If you can, determine the 10 best knife making steels.

2. Make a knife out of each of the 10 steels.

3. Hand the 10 knives to experienced real world knife users and have them each try a different steel over the course of a year or so.

4. At the conclusion of the "testing", ask the users which steel was the best.

There will be no consensus among real world knife users. With rare exception, a good knife can be made from any steel that knife makers use.

I spoke with our chem-lab this morning. Apparently we make a 5195 grade that is 10-15 times harder than the A-36/572 @ 100ppm carbon steel. I'm going to try my luck with that. I'll post pics if the project turns out