Crow Bars and Scraper Blades

[SReynolds]

I have quite a supply of (free to me) crow bars and snow blade scrapers for lawn tractor sized blades. The crow bars were removed from school buses. No longer allowed to carry them onboard. Kids will take them from the driver and beat/kill them, so no more.

 

(What in the heck is the world comming to?)

 

The scraper baldes are a bit too thin (1/8th inch) to do much, but the crow bars are about 3/4-7/8" octagon shaped.

 

Each is decent carbon content.

 

Anyone work with crow bars? I'm thinking about heading tools and the like. I havn't quenched on ein water yet to see how brittle it would become.

 

I'm guessing they will shatter (?) 

[Donnie]

I made a few blades from an old crowbar. Junkyard rules apply. I know they are most likely medium carbon steel. The blades I forged from that particular crowbar served the recipients quite well.

[Frosty]

Great stock. Medium carbon steel, tougher than hard, though allow grain growth to get ahead of you and it will become brittle. Garden tools, nail pullers, speed bars, custom pry bars, bush knives, etc. usually do well made from med C steels.

 

Make a few test coupons, determine the best quenchant for hardening and temper to the intended use. I believe a pry bar would be drawn to blue or almost, say purply blue.

 

The scraper blades might be just the ticket for pattern welded billets, a med C steel is a decent choice for heavy use blades like cleavers, choppers, etc.

 

Nice score. I grab pry bars every chance I can for under $1.50 ea. folk are often just wanting to get rid of the things, NO idea why grandpaw or uncle Duff needed so many of the things. Some day folk will get to wonder why I had dozens. <grin>

 

Frosty The Lucky.

[Sheltowee]

Not bad stock for tongs either!

[eggwelder]

made 2 of these from one, have not used the bent end yet, paid 6$ made $394 when i sold them. buy them when i see them, but check them out first. some of the chinese ones have "cold shuts" in them from the forging process. tempered with plumbers torch to purply-blue at the blade, blue at the hammer end. good call Frosty. motor oil quench for both hardening and tempering. 

[rthibeau]

those things are really not worth bothering with........but if you send them all to me I'll take care of them for you

[SReynolds]

I will drop them off to you when I'm up your way for the next Hockey Game.

[Nobody Special]

There's something I've been meaning to try you might do with those prybars if you like.  Somebody down here's been using punches to put a crow's face onto the metal. A crow-crowbar. Yeah it's a pun, but it looks cool, and they sell briskly. I see one again, (or make one!) I'll take a pic.

[SReynolds]

hummmmm. Crow-Crowbar.

 

I just forged me an experimental rivet header. I didn't temper it. Simply heated to orange and quenched in oil I had; ATF. I could still cut into the metal with a hacksaw. I didn't try a file. Most seem to indicate you must use a file.

 

So, the rivet header worked great.

 

Going to heat a section and quench in water to see if it will be any different, for fun.

[Chinobi]

the name escapes me now, but somebody on here made a really neat integral bolster knife from a prybar or some other hex/octo bar.  forged out the blade and drew down the handle but left a bolster of the original cross section untouched.  could make a handful of those :)

[beammeupscotty]

hummmmm. Crow-Crowbar.

 

I just forged me an experimental rivet header. I didn't temper it. Simply heated to orange and quenched in oil I had; ATF. I could still cut into the metal with a hacksaw. I didn't try a file. Most seem to indicate you must use a file.

 

So, the rivet header worked great.

 

Going to heat a section and quench in water to see if it will be any different, for fun.

 

I suspect if you quench in water you will end up with a very different result.  I have heated and quenched a flat bar type pry bar in the past and was able to snap it off in the vise.  Just quenched it was very hard and brittle.