gypsy Posted March 30, 2009 Share Posted March 30, 2009 I was hoping we could start a thread on what old tools are made of being I have seen a few posts concerning what type of steel this or that old tool is, I know that jackhammer bits are s5, good crow & digging bars are 4130 unless they are pre WWII then they are more likely 1045-1065, leaf springs are 5160 unless pre WWII then likely to be 1045-1065. ball bearings are 52100 & I believe most good files are w2? (not sure on that but I think that's right) and old carbon steel butcher knives like old hickory & green river are generally 1095. I had seen a discussion on "what steel a hoe is made of" & it got me wondering what steel are they made of... or spring furrows? or old scythe blades? so if ya happen to know what steel a particular tool is usually made of please reply :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Sells Posted March 30, 2009 Share Posted March 30, 2009 Not all crow bars are S5, and there are many listings of good guesses to found steels on the forums. and the BP's Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattBower Posted March 30, 2009 Share Posted March 30, 2009 (edited) I know that jackhammer bits are s5, good crow & digging bars are 4130 unless they are pre WWII then they are more likely 1045-1065, leaf springs are 5160 unless pre WWII then likely to be 1045-1065. ball bearings are 52100 & I believe most good files are w2? (not sure on that but I think that's right) and old carbon steel butcher knives like old hickory & green river are generally 1095. No, you only think you know those things. Those are incredibly broad, radically oversimplified statements, and very likely wrong in a great many cases. The precise steels used for particular applications can vary tremendously by individual manufacturer, the intended use of the part (not all bearings are rated for the same load, speed, environment, etc., just for example), and even by what happens to be cheap at the time of a particular production run. Unless you get the particular steel analyzed or are able to get detailed information from the actual manufacturer, normally the best you can hope for with these sorts of generalizations is to get somewhere in the approximate neighborhood of the truth, with bunches of caveats. Junkyard steel demands testing and experimentation. That said, Steve's right that there are lots of charts available with a simple Google search. (Try Googling "junkyard steel chart" without quotes.) Take them all with several tablespoons of salt. Edited March 30, 2009 by MattBower Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woody Posted March 30, 2009 Share Posted March 30, 2009 Gypsy I have quite a long list of junkyard steels, pm me with your email address and I will send it to you. It contains what is on IFI along with stuff from ABANA and various other places. Woody Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted March 30, 2009 Share Posted March 30, 2009 Machinerys Handbook says that S7 would make a good jackhammer bit and it certainly would! It would also cost *MANY* times more than using a medium carbon steel. Guess what the manufacturer uses? I knew a smith whose 30 odd year career was sharpening jackhammer bits. Out of the thousands he did only a handful was S series steel---way less than 1%. I have personally run into a low alloy strain hardened auto spring---nope it was NOT 5160 as it would not harden by heat and quench. If you are going to sell something to sombody DON'T MAKE GUESSES! Tell them something like it's OCS (old chevy spring) *not* it's 5160; cause if you don't *KNOW*---you are lying to your customer! Not a good thing to get a reputation for! Learning to spark test and building up a library of samples is a great help to keep you aware of some basic ideas on carbon content of scrap. (and be ready for some real wild outliers at times!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saintjohnbarleycorn Posted March 31, 2009 Share Posted March 31, 2009 I think with the influx of so much chinese steel you won't have any clue as to what you are getting any more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted March 31, 2009 Share Posted March 31, 2009 One of the problems is that a manufacturer can switch alloys whenever they feel like they can do a bit better on price and get similiar results; however if it's something that is not visible to the outside world we will never know. (eg: if they say a planer blade is D2 it will be D2 but who knows what a leaf spring is on a car?) For a wild outlier---remember the cheap Ti crowbars from Russia that hit the market a decade + ago? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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