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I Forge Iron

Starting work on a tire hammer, question on finding steel for it.


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Does anyone know of a good place near the twin cities in mn to get a good deal on an anvil sized chunk of steel? Any good scrap yards you'd recommend or a good place to get plate I could build up on end like the iron kiss hammers? I really don't want to drop a huge amount of coin on new steel since the place that originally quoted me $300 now upped it $650. Thanks in advance.

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A possible place for scrap plate would be large construction contractors the cutting edges.
The problem is scrap is so high for so long a lot went to market already.
I built a treadle hammer with RR track welded together for the anvil
I once dug a 300# 6" or so round 3 ' long out of a dumpster. I planned to make a tire hammer with that. it was a jack hammer bit that fit a track hoe. Most likely some type of Shock steel. S7 possibly.
RR car axels are about 6".

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Beat down the doors of every outlet possible in your area. Scrap yards, salvage yards, dumps, radio sell/trade stations, etc.

Try to find a large steel yard and see if they have something small. My steel yard sells "scrap" steel by the pound. I was able to gather 19 anvil posts from my steel yard at 25 cents per pound. For six inch solid that's under $100. Also, remember that the configuration doesn't matter. Plates stacked on top of each other, plates or flat bar welded side by side, some of both.....whatever you can find.

good luck

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I got my 8.5" anvil for my kinyon air hammer from MB Glick. Do a google for mbglick.com and talk with Elam. I paid .50 a pound for mild steel and they had a 4140 7.5" round for 70 cents a pound. The shipping was also real good. I burned enough fuel running to scrap yards and countless hours waisted looking for big rounds and found nothing here in Colorado. I don't know where you live but my time and fuel is worth something. Wish I could have found this place before I spent all that time and fuel. You will pay 50 cents or more a pound at any yard or shop and then factor in the fuel and time and you are paying like twice + the scrap price. I also got my die steel H13 from them also. I call at least 10 scrap yards that said O yea we have what you need, but when I got there it was "well I think I saw a piece like that last month some where around here" but there was no steel to be found. So unless you just like looking at scrap waisting time then do what you want.
Just my worthless 2 cents
CH

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Wow! This is a shock to me CH. Moses B. Glick is like a half hour from me and I've bought so much stuff there over the years. Got all of my 4140 there for my press. What surprised me is that this is the new owner and they are all Amish. And here they are big time on fleabay. Have to give it to them, they know how to make money. BTW, they have one of those guns for telling the metal composition and so you know what you're getting. Good people and good products.

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Hi Randy
Yep MB Glick is a pleasure to do business with. My big round for the anvil and the die steel to do 2 sets of dies, H13 2x2.5x27" with left over to do nice hand hammer shipped to me. for less than 1/2 what the local places want to charge me for a drop or a rem. The scrap yards around here are shipping stuff out as soon as they get it, Most of it old cars and household appliances plus they pull anything useable and charge 1-2 dollars a pound for it. So guess who got my business. They shipped it with the pronumber, the same day. Cant ask for better than that.
H H
CH

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Thanks for the replies. I've contacted moses glick before but the problem is I live in MN and the shipping to a residential address costs as much as the steel. I figure in an area as big as the twin cities, I should be able to find a deal locally. Keep those suggestions coming though!

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Couldn't hurt to put a want ad on craigslist. Most of the scrap yards around me have went to no sales to public in the last six months. I figure craigslist might be a good way to find small scale scrapers to buy stuff from before they bring it to the big yards. Just a thought.

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