BeaverDamForge

A guy lectured us on chemical safety at a cabinet/millwork shop, told us if we used laquer thinner without gloves at 10 AM it would be on our hands at lunchtime. No mention of methyl alcohol being absorbed through the skin...

OK, thanks for that info! :)

I took the 'some gears are steel' to mean the others are not... sorry if I got his intent wrong. I had wondered about hardening CI.

Not sure what you mean by 'newer', stretch bolts have been in use since the '80s, Escorts had them. Never seen a sodium filled intake valve, there would be little reason for such expense (intake valves don't need the cooling, they get cooled by the incoming air). The sodium filled exhaust valves are easy to spot, they have big stems since they are hollow. The real danger is not corrosiveness, but explosiveness. But even regular exhaust valves are high temp alloys, not much good to a smith.

You sure about that? "Gears in automotive transmissions are usually made from a steel alloy that is later heat treated to be more resistant to fatigue, and then surface hardened to resist wear." How to Rebuild and Modify Your ... - Google Book Search Good chart here: Gear materials, properties, and ... - Google Book Search

How about the pieces they dump down the hill onto my property?

I'd think it's closer to coil spring spec. Steering arms and tie rods are not parts that flex in use (hopefully).

If you watch the track as a train rolls over it, it moves up and down in the gravel (ballast) a good inch. The rail anchors keep the ties from moving around (proper spacing). Did that come from stimulus money or was it just 'your gov't at work'? Almost any money spent domestically stimulates the economy, hopefully Britain will reciprocate on the money spent there. We do have conferences here occasionally...

BP0002 Junk Yard and Rail Road Steels | Blueprints 000-100 Accordind to this they might be 3115. They're not cast iron, it wouldn't hold up.

Steering stabilizer? If you're talking about a sway (anti-roll) bar it's probably spring steel. Try: BP0002 Junk Yard and Rail Road Steels | Blueprints 000-100

I looked into this last year - you can find all kinds of info about solar furnaces, from the hillside of mirrors in France to guys with fresnel lenses out of big screen TVs. "Solar death ray" will find a bunch of mini versions that people use to burn up things (the pyros!) - one guy glued a bunch of old CDs to a piece of a satellite dish. ETA: One guy made a plywood frame and mounted a bunch of mirrors to a truck chassis so he could move the whole array for sun tracking. If you did something like that you could just move the whole array away from the sun. You're talking about heating in a crucible, I was thinking more of an oven. But will either get hot enough or will they start reflecting (reradiating?) too much heat? The biggest thing is to protect your eyes. The sun is too bright to look at, never mind when it's magnified 100X.

And if you're getting dumber from the lead you won't realize it...

Any chance the 'M' is really a 'H'?

I had seen that, Thomas, and thanks for posting it! I've also been told by a fairly experienced smith that they seem to be tougher than a straight carbon steel, so the analysis is nice to have (not that I'm an expert on steel analysis). :)

High speed steel was developed to retain it's hardness at red heat. It actually gets harder from 700* to 1000*. Annealing temp is 1600*. Hardening is done by preheating to 1550* throughout, then rapidly heating to 2350* before quenching in oil for large pieces. Pieces less than 1/2" may be air quenched. Temper at 1050*.

Thanks, been wondering about rail anchors!

BP0078 The Metallurgy of Heat Treating | Blueprints 000-100

At a demo I saw an anvil, clay, and wooden hammer set up for kids to experiment with. Seemed like a good way to let them get a feel for it.

You do know that's the wrong way to position cinderblocks to take a load, right? I've had a few crumble when using them the wrong way... Glad it worked this time!

According to Elmer Roush, hardy tools should be made to fit a particular anvil, and marked (centerpunch) for orientation so you put them in the same way each time. IOW they should not be a sloppy fit. Or you might try this approach: http://www.iforgeiron.com/forum/f7/hotcut-hardy-10062/ You could modify those easily when you get a different anvil.

That's why I put the link in there... :)

Is this a five minute argument or the full half hour? The Argument Sketch :D

I won a post vice at one! Unfortunately my club has gone to a 50/50 raffle at recent events - the winner gets 50% of the money from tickets sold, which amounts to a streetcorner lottery. I have nothing against others gambling, but I'm not going to participate. Even if the members have wives or GFs, gifts for them are good! I've won a couple items specifically for the GF.

That would bring a new (old?) meaning to 'frozen assets'... :o

The frame may be pretty decent steel too. Anybody know?