rmanning

im pretty sure its not galvanizing but im not going to fool with it if there is much chance it could be pretty bad stuff.

a friend of mine brought me some scrap 3/4" round about 18" long steel he said was used to make ladder steps for fire escape type ladders and a couple other pieces of flat.  i noticed it looked like it was coated with something.  it is blueish color and i can see where it looks to have flaked off in small places .  is this possibly a harmful coating most everything i have used up till now has had red rust on it and this is new stuff, but it is not grey like the stock you see at the stores.   thanks

it was a pin that we had to cut out of a big check valve on a water line.  i figured i'd use it on the anvil if its to hard to work with

can stainless be heated and worked like regular steel.  i got 3 peices of 1 1/4" stainless 6" long some scrap from work.  didnt know if it was good for forging or harder to work with.

Thanks for the book Francis.  I did not know about that site.

Just wondering what to use to keep stuff from rusting without painting it after you finish it.  Inside and outside stuff?

it did break at the end of the wedge about half way down in the hammer.  im thinking it was the wood as much as anything.  it was from a red oak 2x10 we had in my dads shop that we sawed out a couple years ago. 

Thanks guys,  i am in east tennesse( hamblen county)  I hadnt took time to fill out the profile till now. 

This may be one of the stupidest questions ever but I made a handle for my cross pein hammer and a ball pein hammer.  Both of them broke right where the handle went in the hammer.  I used some dried straight grain oak to make them.  is oak not fit for handles? I didnt know if it was the wood or my lack of handle making skills haha.

Just getting started in this as a hobby, built a brake drum forge got a couple hammers and chisels, and an anvil of course. thoughts of making knives and tomahawks got me interested now i am hooked.    i have made a couple wall hooks and attempted a couple sets of tongs.  youtube has been my only source of education.  I am in east tennesse and do not know of much blacksmithing that goes on around my area.    was wondering about good places to learn or pick up info other than trial and error or maybe a book that is really useful.  thanks for any help or suggestions.