drillbit forging

[Alfie]

I have access to a lot of horribly rusty, blunt and huge drillbits
although i could easily use the shanks, would it be possible to clean them up, take it to welding (bright orange?) heat and forge into round bar?
thanks
Alfie

[Frosty]

I believe HS steel is pretty hot short but I may have that wrong. Wasn't there a thread about forging with drill bits here just recently?

Frosty

[tetnum]

careful if it gets to hot it will likely turn it to a iron sand and go every ware

[steve sells]

commonly M2 but not always.

[JohnW]

Oh, M2, that makes sense. There's a lot of search hits with M2 steel.

Tool Steel M2 - All Metals & Forge

[SGropp]

Since when is bright orange a welding heat? Just buy some new stock of a known designation and get on with it . Even new, steel is still relatively cheap .

[Mulciber]

Originally Posted by SGropp

Since when is bright orange a welding heat? Just buy some new stock of a known designation and get on with it . Even new, steel is still relatively cheap .

I agree in the sense that trying to make round stock out of something is kinda a waste of time. Just go get some round stock. Depending where you are and what you are doing with the round stock, rebar can be easily found. Otherwise just buy some round stock to begin with.

Go by a couple fabrication shops that do railings and such. I scored a 55 gallon drum full of stuff too short for them to use. Lots of 1/2" round and square just under 3' long. The other half the drum was filled with pieces between 6 and 12" of all sorts. Ended up helping him load a truck in exchange for the metal he was going to scrap. Don't be afraid to ask, you never know what you might get. Always be sure to ask though. Don't ever take anything otherwise.

Look up all your local metal recycling places. There's one not too far from where I am that doesn't pay for steel. Anyone brings them steel they put it in a big dumpster and they don't mind cutting a deal once they know what you're doing.

[Dave Budd]

I wouldn't bother trying to forge the fluting back into a bar, just untwist and use as flat. Or use the bits for something else



just because you can buy new steel, doesn't been that should throw away good old steel

[Bentiron1946]

Hey, that's a nice little knife!

[ThomasPowers]

You could wind and soft solder some grounding wire in that knife to give it a bit more to the handle.