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I Forge Iron

What materials to forge for a beginner?


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  • 1 month later...

There's a short rail line near me that went out of use about fifty years ago and then was legally abandoned in the early Seventies. Jump forward a few decades, and one of these private railroad groups buys the line and sets about restoring it for use in excursion trips. Turns out, some joker had decided to tear up a whole section of rail and sell it for scrap, thinking that "legal abandonment" is the same as "free for the taking". Getting arrested and charged with theft cured him of that misapprehension, and I gather he's still paying back the current owners after a civil case.

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I am a firm believer in using known materials.  Scrap and rebar is good for some limited items.  I use for the most part, 1018 and A36 for general use forged items.  I know how it will act.  I understand its properties and I don't have to guess, test or worry.  For some things I use acquired springs.  And while I may not know its exact composition.  I can give a good guess based on past experience.  Some of the best advice I've gotten over the years is,  "Use known steels."  My two Kopecs worth of advice.

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welding chain links w/low carbon steel. That is so easy. Makes one look like he/she knows what he/she is doing before an audience. I operate before an audience, you may not. Yet have some friends over. Demo some simple stuff and hit them with a chain link weld. WOW. Your status will escalate.

Another is a nail. Have 'em try that. You will now be invited to all the parties. Along with a fist bump and slap on the back.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I see a lot of talk about "taking things from the railroad" thought I'd add in my 2c.

Recently in my hunt for coal in my area, I cornered the local railroad mechanic. (I work at an auto parts store so he's in frequently) He didn't really have a good answer for the coal situation, but he was telling me that sometimes if you can talk to the road master for the area, they could possibly help you out. He explained that if coal gets dumped out of a railcar by accident or whatever may happen, it renders it useless to the RR. So possibly you could score some used spikes or something that way. He said the RR is unbelievably wasteful.

It never hurts to ask, I get tons of free scrap and things by just being polite and asking the right person. In fact i scored an anvil for free on Friday. My coil spring, and leaf spring supply is also nearly endless haha.

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WHat exactly is a drop?

Is it the steel thats missed the mould and hit the floor?

I call them drops but when they do a project they will cut stock to size and whats left is often to small for them to use and is a drop. it drops to the floor and doesnt get used,  another place we call is a fabrication place not to far from the house, pretty sure he makes trailers. not sure how much of what he has would work for forging but he had the steel we needed to take the saw mill from 8ft to 20ft so dad was satisfied.

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Exactly, a "drop" is what's left over when stock is cut for a project. The term meaning it's been Dropped from the stock inventory. Another good term is rem or remnant or remainder.

What I mean by a "good term" is one that is known and understood by folk in a trade or person on the street without needing a long explanation. Drop and Rem are good examples of "good terms," in my book.

Frosty The Lucky.

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In a good sized shop it might cost more to store, inventory, measure, sort drops than they are worth and so they often just go as scrap.  I recently bought about 200 22" pieces of 1/2" sq A36 that were drops.  An apartment complex had to go back and redo their stair and balcony railings to meet the 4" Rule---a big project!  They had no use for the ends of the 20' sticks that were remainder when chopping out the needed pickets and so sold me 200 for US$10 which  was below scrapyard price I'd pay to buy at!  I also bought the remainder of the 20' sticks for about 1/2 new price.  They had no need of them and no place to store them and so it was worth it to them just to get the space cleared out.

This was a craigslist find and I lucked out as I was the first person to show up prepared to deal with 20' sticks---brought my angle grinder with cutting disk, face shield, hearing protectors, extension cord, pickup, etc  (that was when I was offered the drops for a pittance---large fancy---incised twist---S hooks and tent stakes are churning out the door!)

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  • 1 month later...

For a new fella, can someone define for me the A36 characterstic mentioned above?  I'm no metallurgist, so what are the identifying features for metals?  I see hardness ratings, Krup, etc.  Anybody want to give the Campbell's soup condensed version on this topic?

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In general terms, A36 denotes only the physical properties, that being approximately 36,000# tensile strength.  The A36 does not describe the chemical, or metallurgical composition.  That can vary, but it is a low carbon steel.

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