Joshw

I know the difference between mild steel and high carbon steel during a spark test means high carbon steel puts off sparks that fork and look like fireworks while the mild steel tends to have much duller less impressive sparks. My question to all the way more experienced blacksmiths on here is... has anyone found a good rule of thumb for identifying different high carbon steels from spark tests? I use almost exclusively salvaged metal in my forge and I know different metals prefer different heat treats. I know springs from cars are spring steel, tire irons are tool steel etc. but a lot of what I use is scrap from a metal fabrication shop and I have no idea what most of it is. Any tips for identifying scrap metals would be most appreciated.

Thanks that’s the kind of information I needed. Any other tips are much appreciated.

My forge set up is a single burner propane fuel made out of an old air compressor. It gets up to around 2400 f with firebricks in the front. I’ve only ever made mono steel billets so this can idea is a little intimidating. As for power hammer/press situation is non existent. I do everything with hand hammers and an anvil. I know I need compression for the welds to stick but I can do that with a hand hammer right?

I’m getting ready to attempt my first canister Damascus billet. I have an eight inch mild steel can with a bottom welded on. I spent way too much time cleaning enough old rusty nails to fill the inside. I have 1095 powder to fill in the gaps. My questions are... What would be a good way to keep nails away from the cutting edge? Would 1084 powder be a better choice? Would I be better off using less pieces of bigger steel for my first can? Any other tips/tricks would be greatly appreciated.