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I Forge Iron

Anyone knows what steel are Hydro-Axe blades?


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I have no Idea what a Hydro-axe is but if I look at the word "hydro" that must be Greek or Latin for water and an axe is an inclined plane tool used to cut things, therefore a hydro-axe must be used to cut water or is driven by water to cut up something. You know I think Jake just needs to up and tell us what it is used for. :huh:

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Guest Moderator52

First blind guess would be a blade for cutting through water but that would be silly. From what you show it looks like a blade off of a bush hog. Or just a hunk of steel with a hole. Where did you get it Jake?



Amazing what a google search will tell you.
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Sorry,guys,in AK it seems such a common tool,and a term,that i didn't even think about it...It's a hydraulic(thus,hydro...it may be a brand,too...)attachement for a front-end loader,used for clearing brush and trees.Commonly,the road shoulders,for visibility,but any clearing job at all.It uses blades,such as above,or sometimes sections of chain,to beat the trees into pulp.
I was given a truck-load of these by our DOT guys,when they swapped them out for new ones.
Now a friend,in Fairbanks,is looking for med/high C steel to build up his tooling,and i thought that these may make him some dandy guillotine bits,or some such.
But,actually,the sawzall blades REALLY object to cutting these,so it may be a moot point in any case.It does spark fancy-several different sparkler kinds B)

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I was cutting a piece of leaf spring today, and my hacksaw really objected to it. For that matter my center punch did too (blunted one and shattered the tip of the other)

Try an abrasive cutoff wheel on it. They are probably hardened, so a saw is going to object.

Phil

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Unless you can get the mfg to tell you, or have it analyzed, I can think of a dozen alloys appropriate for making these. Water, oil, air hardening. Bainitic steels, AR work hardening steels, you name it. I would be leary of putting a name on it (like leaf springs are 5160) too quickly.

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Unless you can get the mfg to tell you, or have it analyzed, I can think of a dozen alloys appropriate for making these. Water, oil, air hardening. Bainitic steels, AR work hardening steels, you name it. I would be leary of putting a name on it (like leaf springs are 5160) too quickly.


That is why I question the source, its an ebay auction. My comments about leaf springs a few posts earlier was regarding sawing hardened steel - it is difficult at best, and frequently impossible, the saw skating, or the material taking teeth off the saw.

However, I doubt the stuff is super exotic, and the auction states 5160 FWIW. I suspect the stuff will cut fin with an abrasive cutoff wheel, and probably will forge adequately.

Phil
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I have a piece that is @4" square that was broken off of a bush hog. When the blade broke, it broke at the hole and it shattered. Really hard blade. I"ll save it for a rainy day. A really rainy day before I do anything with it. It is on a shelf waiting for my skill level to increase a hundred fold.
Mark <><

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