May 28, 200917 yr Aren't most sulfides water soluble? Just seems that most of the sucker rod I've seen has been laying around in a pile out in the weather for some time before it was acquired by a smith and most of the nasty sulfides were probably gone? I've used a bit of it and never noticed anything but rust on it. Mark Aspery uses it all the time for the tooling in his classes (which is where I've gotten most of mine). I know there are a number of different alloys, but I recall seeing a chart that cross referenced the numbers on the female end of the rod to the alloy somewhere. Thought it was here. Anyway, the stuff I've used will make a serviceable tool, is easy and forgiving to forge, and easy to heat treat using a water quench / triple temper process also developed by Mark. It is a little tougher under the hammer than mild, so I'm not sure I'd make a lot of pokers or decorative stuff out of it unless I was broke or couldn't find cheap scrap mild though. No, many sulfides are not soluble in water. Nor are all of the the sulfur compounds adhereing to steel from sour gas wells sulfides. Soluibility depends on a number of factors. In this case we are talking specifically about materials from Sour gas wells. Missing from this whole discussion is another factor that you may or may not run into. NORM's Naturaly Occuring Radioactive Materials- which have been known to contaminate oil field steel to the point that it is thought too dangerous to be set to scrap for re-melt. Not a big issue but worth thinking about if you happen on a pile that appears abandoned. In the last little while most scrap processers have been required to certify that the level of radioactivity is below a certain level. I don't know the details of the NORM levels and only know about it from the papers reporting of law suits and people being sent to jail.
November 9, 200916 yr Fwiw the black gunk you find on sucker rods is generally Iron sulfide, aka b.s. it can build up quite deep in some oil field equipment such as gun barrels, heater treaters, water knockouts,& stock tanks. some wells produce a lot, others produce almost none.
October 19, 20241 yr I’ve forged numerous knives using sucker rod. I have no idea what the content of the steel is, but it makes a very hard durable knife. it takes and holds an edge very well. The rods that I used, were very clean.
October 22, 20241 yr Dr.B, it's amazing how many people are responding to years old topics lately. That one is 14 years old. https://www.iforgeiron.com/forum/22-introduce-yourself/
October 22, 20241 yr That is awfully Strange, there’s been quite a few new posters commenting on forgotten threads
October 25, 20241 yr I think its great to bring up the oldies. That said my favorite punches are made from a sucker rod of unknown composition. They hold up real well if used with care.
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