Just curious as I have no idea but was wondering what the big H beams are made out of. I got a big chunk of it but not sure what I can use it for. Its only about 1.5ft long but the H or I is about 10" tall and about 8" wide.

Thanks guys.

Typically "mild structural steel" or A36, but there can be other specifications. Do remember that the specifications for A36 change slightly with the dimensions.

That larger size is more likely to be grade 50 or 50 ksi steel, harder to work. It is a wide flange beam and the size is the height and lbs/ft. If you know the flange and web measurements a chart will tell you the lbs/ft if you care. The last beams I bought were W14/99. That means it is 14" tall and 99 lbs per foot. I think the flanges were 3/4 and the web 5/8"

Thanks Smith, will get the measurements and look it up. Is this stuff good for anything to make. Just curious if I can repurpose the metal at all.

It has been talked about on here before. The 50 ksi has some alloys in it to make it stronger not sure what though. It is harder to work than mild steel, power hammer should not care much.
smith

Roberto Giordani from Italy did a sculpture out of I beam in cali at a CBA event.

The sky is the limit. (Edited to say: Not my poor work, but art found on the web and downloaded for inspiration and class instruction. I don't make anything you would call art, but I do occasionally teach artists how not to maim themselves with industrial tools.)


And then of course there is the plebian drilling of various holes and using it as a ground level monkey tool, where you bring the hot pickets to the monkey tool and hammer on the other end of the picket, instead of the usual method.

Very nice work John. I especially like the horse. Did you use a press to bend the neck area or is it all cut and fab?

Yeah that is some cool stuff. Not really setup to make big stuff like that. Alot of cool ideas.

Have a few ideas but we will see how easy it is to cut up.

I believe those pieces John showed are from Roberto Girodani and Cal Lane respectively but I could be wrong... Nice work regardless!

That piece of steel could make a nice Anvil base, although a bit short.

I / H beam is mild steel thus the reason when a welder is certified on welding it is Mild Steel for construction of buildings & Structures unless otherwise noted .

Sam

So could probably make some hawks out of it if I wanted to, just weld in a piece of 1070 or something similar for the cutting edge. Ofcourse cutting it up will be a chore but I am use to that. Joys of free metal, your hands react before your brain has time to think why lol.

Sam- It could be mild steel, or it could be something with some oddball alloys that meets the performance spec for A36 or 50 or whatever. Currently the people making I beams care less about the composition (chemistry) of the steel than they do the yield strength and other engineering specifications. There are some good threads here on IFI about the difference between mild (1018) steel and A36.

I agree with you judson ,

In the past we used some heavy I beams and H beams with similar measurements...but they were incredibly stronger, as they were made to T1 specs. Many times T1 is used as a thinner cross sectional value to give the same strength however much lighter.

Our usage of the T1 was for heavy hauling trailer rails to move cranes, dozers, large structures. Their unique design made a trailer that was not nearly as tall as it would be if made from A36, etc, yet a tremendous weight savings. One trailer was almost twice the capacity of the A36 type stuff. Not sure if it was A36 back then...30 years ago. Things change

Carry on

Man I thought I was an ol school or worked ol school any way , T 1 is my go to steel for a lot of things as it is a very hard steel and works well in many applications.

Sam

Good thread , I was wondering what is COR -TEN steel ?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weathering_steel Cor Ten is a brand name for "weathering" steel. It rusts a little then once a good layer of oxide builds up it sort of self-seals and stops rusting. Bridges, shipping containers, steel power poles, highway guardrails are common applications. To weld it properly you need to use matching filler material, usually has a -w on the end of the electrode code. It's fairly reactive (keeps rusting) if in contact with non-Cor ten metals such as mild steel, screws, rivets, etc.

An architect I work with a lot loves the stuff for some reason, I spent the last 6 months cladding the outside of a very large house with thousands of square feet of 16 gage Cor Ten.

you could use it to make one of these.



mark

An architect I work with a lot loves the stuff for some reason, I spent the last 6 months cladding the outside of a very large house with thousands of square feet of 16 gage Cor Ten.

Was the corten siding in strips or sheets? How was it fastened? Are there pictures? Thanks.

Thats cool oof. I wonder, filling in the space with some kind of softer metal then welding flats on it would increase the weight of the item substantialy.

That house sounds interesting.

Thats cool oof. I wonder, filling in the space with some kind of softer metal then welding flats on it would increase the weight of the item substantialy.

That house sounds interesting.

thanks quint. the plate on top is 12"x12" 1.5" thick, and the beam is .5" thick. it weighs right around 100 pounds. right now i just set some lead ingots inside to help calm the ring. the chain and magnets don't do enough on their own.

mark

They had a corten building at Cornell University when I was there---it was the one with the extremely ugly rust stains all over the concrete around it...

They had a corten building at Cornell University when I was there---it was the one with the extremely ugly rust stains all over the concrete around it...

That's the worst part of Corten facades. After a decade or so the stains stop forming at least. The process is ugly, and the results are mediocre in my opinion.

Phil

I agree. But with the 8 foot eave overhangs on this house there will be less water than normal hitting the siding. It's quite something to see, but instead of continuing this threadjacking I'll snap some pics tomorrow and try and post them in the projects forum.