IanR Posted October 9, 2010 Share Posted October 9, 2010 Today I bought some steel from a garage sale ( I can hear everyone go Oh No!). The people were moving overseas and their son was a hobby smith, but he wasn't there to ask about the steel. It was all in lengths about 1.5 metres long, sharp square corners, a semi shiny appearance, some lengths with surface rust and all marked with yellow paint on the ends. There was various sizes ( In metric) 25x12, 20x10, 20x20, 30x30, 6mm round,8mm round and a few other sizes.I assumed it was cold formed steel possibly 1020,it forged similar to mild steel but my concern was the unusual odour it gave off when heated. I will take a photo tomorrow in the daylight. Can anyone shed any light on this? Cheers Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NRunals Posted October 9, 2010 Share Posted October 9, 2010 Hmm sounds like a great find, the only thing is the odor. I hope it's not galvanized or chrome plated, but you can remove both fairly easily. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattBower Posted October 9, 2010 Share Posted October 9, 2010 Yeah, it does sounds like it could be galvanized. Around here -- half a world away -- yellow ends are common on galvanized steel, and the rest of the description fits, too. Read up on metal fume fever. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Seelye Posted October 9, 2010 Share Posted October 9, 2010 , sharp square corners, a semi shiny appearance, some lengths with surface rust and all marked with yellow paint on the ends. There was various sizes ( In metric) 25x12, 20x10, 20x20, 30x30, 6mm round,8mm round and a few other sizes.I assumed it was cold formed steel possibly 1020,it forged similar to mild steel but my concern was the unusual odour it gave off when heated. I will take a photo tomorrow in the daylight. Can anyone shed any light on this? Cheers Ian Surface rust would not indicate galvanized, but, when you heated it did it flame on the surface? Zinc will burn off leaving yellow dust & white ash. The dust that floats is really bad for you to breathe. Usually hot dipped galvanized will not have sharp corners either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nuge Posted October 9, 2010 Share Posted October 9, 2010 Is it magnetic? Stainless will still show rust if not properly stored. Is it oiled? That could account for the smell. I doubt its galvy or chrome. You would know on the first heat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pkrankow Posted October 9, 2010 Share Posted October 9, 2010 Is it magnetic? Stainless will still show rust if not properly stored. Is it oiled? That could account for the smell. I doubt its galvy or chrome. You would know on the first heat. Most stainless steels are magnetic. There are just a few that are formulated (deliberately or not) to be nonmagnetic. If it forged like mild its not stainless. Added chrome improves hot hardness significantly. It probably is coated mild, which may or may not be a safety concern. Electroplate will provide a very smooth surface and because it is the thinnest of galvanizing may rust in places. Phil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted October 9, 2010 Share Posted October 9, 2010 I'm thinking it's a good score regardless of exactly what it is. Was there a green flare off the stock in the forge and bluish white smoke? If not it's not galvy. Shinyish eh? Probably cold rolled meaning it's ground to dimension and often coated with a plastic-like sealant to prevent rust that stinks when you burn it off. It doesn't smell like oil or grease burning but is similar. What I see anymore is different suppliers and distributors have different color codes if they handle multiple alloy stock so yellow painted ends may not mean a thing. Heck, I've been known to slap some paint on stock in MY racks to differentiate special stock. Have you spark tested it? It's good if you have a few cupons of known steel for comparison but you can find charts, pics and better descriptions than I can give for the process. If it sparks medium or higher carbon steel you might want to try the shop tests I laid out in another thread a couple days ago. One of our local guys picked up a healthy bundle of 1/4" sq cold rolled that turned out to be key stock, so lucking into med carbon is really easy at yard/garage sales, etc. Frosty the Lucky. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IanR Posted October 10, 2010 Author Share Posted October 10, 2010 Thanks for the replies fellas, today I had a better look and the steel had what appeared to be an brownish oily coating and some of the pieces were mild steel so that may have accounted for the rusty look. I haven't had an opportunity to forge or spark test today but I didn't notice anything unusual yesterday. The piece in the photos I cleaned this morning and it came up with an appearance like it was machined, but on closer inspection it appeared to have a coating which was reasonably easy to remove by scratching with jewelers tweezers, but the unusual thing was the flakes scratched off were picked up with the magnetic tweezers.Next time I have the forge lit I'll wack on a respirator and check out how it behaves. While on the safety side of things, a tip- always wear footwear in the workshop. I knew today was going to be busy so when I woke this morning I jumped out of bed grabbed the camera and went out to take some photos. I usually have the workshop squared away at the end of the day so I didn't think there would be any hassles, I didn't count on the length of steel falling off the bench onto my foot, I now have a cut and bruised pinky Thanks again for your answers Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IanR Posted October 13, 2010 Author Share Posted October 13, 2010 I've added some photos to this so I thought I would bring it back to the top. Cheers ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam2519 Posted October 13, 2010 Share Posted October 13, 2010 Just looks like oil that picked up a coat of dust. But better to be safe than sorry. Put on the respirator and do your best Darth Vader impersonation. :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dragons lair Posted October 14, 2010 Share Posted October 14, 2010 Might be P&O (pickled and oiled) New it's dripping wet Old it's brownish and stinks when welded or heated. Ken. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sweany Posted October 14, 2010 Share Posted October 14, 2010 was there a dog tied next to the steel? :lol: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted October 15, 2010 Share Posted October 15, 2010 Barefoot in the shop eh? Don't you blokes down under have some really nasty stinging bugs? Frosty the Lucky. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IanR Posted October 15, 2010 Author Share Posted October 15, 2010 was there a dog tied next to the steel? A possibility but no. Barefoot in the shop eh? Don't you blokes down under have some really nasty stinging bugs? Frosty the Lucky. All sorts of nasties Frosty, worst one we have where I live is the Sydney Funnel Web Spider, possibly the deadliest spider in the world. They are ground dwellers but mostly come out at night, but are known to hide in shoes if they dont make it home after a night out. First and last time barefoot in the shop. I'm taking a length of the steel to Get Hammered at the end of the month to see if any of the guys there know what it is. ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted October 15, 2010 Share Posted October 15, 2010 Frosty; haven't you seen that australian pair of steel toed flip flops?. Made me think about making some duck bills for my sandals... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clinton Posted October 15, 2010 Share Posted October 15, 2010 It could be cold rolled steel, 1018 is the classification over here, the paint on the ends is probably a size marking that the supplier uses, cold rolled does have a shiny appearance to it but will start to rust in time Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
forgemaster Posted October 16, 2010 Share Posted October 16, 2010 I would probably lean towards cold rolled as well Ian, it's also known as precision bar here (I think) or something like that, as they can roll it to a very precise size, same as bright bar, only its flat. Phil See you at Moonies, How about liberating that Davy Street sign from the post for us in Mittagong, I keep on meaning to do it myself but I either go through there with no tools, forget it altogether or arrive there in daylight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IanR Posted October 16, 2010 Author Share Posted October 16, 2010 I would probably lean towards cold rolled as well Ian, it's also known as precision bar here (I think) or something like that, as they can roll it to a very precise size, same as bright bar, only its flat. Phil See you at Moonies, How about liberating that Davy Street sign from the post for us in Mittagong, I keep on meaning to do it myself but I either go through there with no tools, forget it altogether or arrive there in daylight. Thanks for the replies fellas. Davy Street is in an industrial area Phil, do you know someone there or does the sign hold some special meaning? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
forgemaster Posted October 17, 2010 Share Posted October 17, 2010 Thanks for the replies fellas. Davy Street is in an industrial area Phil, do you know someone there or does the sign hold some special meaning? Seeing as I own a C frame Davy forging press, I thought it would look good on the wall of the shop, only kidding, I don't advocate the perloining of municiple property. I seem to recall Mittagong also has a Forge Street, or am I mistaken. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IanR Posted October 19, 2010 Author Share Posted October 19, 2010 Seeing as I own a C frame Davy forging press, I thought it would look good on the wall of the shop, only kidding, I don't advocate the perloining of municiple property. I seem to recall Mittagong also has a Forge Street, or am I mistaken. Thought you might have been Phil. No luck with Forge Street,Road,Lane etc. Mittagong does have the remnants of an iron works in the under cover carpark of the shopping complex Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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