Charlotte

Done it my self

Look up designs on line for grasshopper links. That is essentially what you are building if I read the sketch correctly

For me this discussion is like brandy, I can tell the difference between an 8 dollar brandy and 20 dollar brandy but I can't tell the difference between a 20 dollar brandy and a 100 dollar brandy. Or to put it another way. Some people may have the skill and perception of their technique to tell the difference but I can not and suspect the majority can not. I use the hammer that seems to suit the job at the time.

If I were you I'd try to get a suggested procedure from Link Belt--> As this looks to be a critical application. Since the piece is an alloy that would be classified as a medium steel alloy heat treatment may be absolutely required.. Note I'm not a welder except for my own stuff just an interested observer. I did look at the Lincoln reference books and realized that it is not a simple job. The preheat for 4140 in the Lincoln Arc welding book is 600 deg F with interpass 700deg F for 1-2 inch sections. I forgot to say that Lincoln mentions a rod designated as 7010-A1 I not familiar with that rod at all. They recommend in plate that a rod with similar strength to base is recommended so 7018-A1 could be used as well

Frank, I hear your bewilderment! I've worked in chem labs for most of my life. The rule was always cotton or wool and leather. When you are dealing with acids, caustics. or solvents the last thing you want is a synthetic. One of the stories that circulated in a chemical plant that I worked in was the day that the "office girls" took a short cut to lunch through a section that had an unnoticed vapor leak from a fitting adjacent to their path. Their pantyhose wound up around their ankles before they reached the exit.

Many of the big box sporting goods stores have excellent prices on work boots. I noticed a recent advertisement that had both lace up and slip on boots in steel toe or polymer reinforced at prices less than the "boot store" cost.

It can be done by hammering half on half off on the edge of your anvil. That does require accurate hammer work how ever.

Antique tools have no value to me. A usable tool that I will put on the bench or in the box goes for $5. Already go a life time supply of ball pein hammer heads and sledge hammer heads. Paid like a buck or less for each.

Have not a clue about the reason that people want them, but you have made a very attractive item. Like the copper touch!

Should have read not to burn wire.

Had a neighbor that was an electrical contractor. Nice Guy! But, I had a hard time convincing him to burn wire recovered for job sites. I finally convinced him when I pointed out that the chlorinated crap vapors were headed to this wife and two babies. Little latter own the scrap yards started refusing burned wire because of the Law. Just to point out that most plastics used in Industrial settings have chlorine in the molecule and are dangerous when heated, melted or burned.

As a child in Ohio we used Magnesium/Aluminum turnings from a local plant to burn a stump. There are a number of things mixed with powdered aluminum which will produce a violent reactions. This doesn't begin to cover all the assorted dusts like flour, wood, and, in Louisiana, sugar that have produced catastrophic explosions. Most of the members living in the Midwest will have stories of explosions in grain elevators. As a child I amused my self with blowing powdered iron through a Bunsen burner flame to watch the sparks. A little alter I discovered a way to make a fuse out of #0000 steel wool. The moral of the story is: if it will burn under any conditions when finely divided it will burn faster when mixed with air.

Typically metals of that size are shipped in coils and run through a straightening mill before being marketed as straight bar. If you look carefully at many smaller sized steel rounds you will see a barely noticeable spiral pattern on them. In this case I suspect that there was an over run of a specialty product that someone said just run it out on that market. At a guess on my part I think that the original material had a coating on it that probably some chlorinated plastic which was smeared onto the bar in the straitening mill.

One of the "Master Smiths" I know during a discussion of the tests used on the blade test mentioned that it took a lot of cutting practice to cut the rope as required in the test. I have heard people on TV that claim to understand Japanese swords make statements that their effectiveness comes from three things 1 steel, 2 edge and blade design.3 Technique of the user. I haven't been following the series but in the first go round I thought some of the tests were pretty sketchy. I recall that in Ewart Oakeshott's book Records of the Medieval Sword He remarked that some of the differences between European Swords and Oriental Swords was the kind of armor they were used against. He elaborated on that theme to say that as armor changed so did the swords and their blade design. The Point is not that the blades were bad but that the tests and the designs were incompatible.

Try cleaning with a little hydocloric acid in dilute solution then use : Stay Brite® Kit Description: Stay Brite Lead-free Solder Kit Use for all metals with the exception of aluminum. Low temperature solder excellent for many HVAC connections. - See more at: http://www.harrisproductsgroup.com/en/Products/Alloys/Soldering/Lead-Free-Solders/Stay-Brite-Kit.aspx#sthash.HFwK1PtS.dpuf This is 460 deg F Solder with its own flux. Some knife makers use it to solder guards of their knives. My own experience with jewelry solders on steel is when I get hot enough to solder I've burned off the flux and contaminated the joint. Kits are currently available at some hardware&big box home centers as well as many welding suppliers.

Jonah k no offense taken! I agree that it is probably safe enough to use for normal blacksmith purposes. I had in mind that there are many people reading here and not all have years of familiarity with hazards accompanying recycling metals.

my suggestion is to take it to the nearest academic chemist you know and as ask for a qualitative analysis, A quick rinse with hydrochloric acid and a borax bead test will tell if it is metal or organic contamination. Colors of bead and flame identify metals. Clean with nothing but Iron and it is organic.(chemical compound)

Not to be pessimistic : I remember that there was a bunch of that pipe installed a guard rails at a school in Texas years ago and the stink it caused when the radiation was discovered. Ignores induced radioactivity as in the above mentioned incident. Not every vendor of stuff knows what they are doing. I worked in a mill producing the above drill pipe 50 years ago. My recollection is that it was tough, strong, and corrosion resistant but machineable. I'd guess ok for the body but you might have a difficult time forge welding a high carbon insert.

Question : Are you sure it is not radioactive?

Basic pressure of liquid propane is 256 lbs sq inch. Not to be played with. When gauges do what you described Shut off gas and pray nothing else fails!! When regulators fail they need to be replaced.

congrats on another birthday!

Retired Chem Lab Monkey, occasional chess player, occasional potter, big time non fiction book reader, chief cook and bottle washer, fisher when funky back says its time to take a day away from the forge or yard.

Great example! OTOH There are many things which were possible and practical "in the day" that are less so today because of better understanding of recycling and materials costs. Kind or really depends on what your area is like and whether you have any current competition. In my town there are three different guys that pick up every scrap of stray metal as soon as it hits the dirt.

dish washing solutions are generally basic rather than acidic. How hard is the water you are using? Runs in my mind that "cutlery bronze' is a silicone alloy although not sure.

for a first from a rail spike it is darn good.! Keep on working on technique and you will soon be making show pieces at this rate.