old rascal Posted September 12, 2013 Share Posted September 12, 2013 This is my mystery steel. I'm hoping that someone can tell me what it is and where it was used. I believe it's high carbon and I would like to make some drifts from it, if possible. It was threaded on one end with a keyway and geared on the other.[ attachment=58867:mystery steel.JPG] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3DistinctKnocks Posted September 12, 2013 Share Posted September 12, 2013 Looks like something off of an old cotton picker. On the other hand, its probably from the Roswell crash site. :ph34r: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigfootnampa Posted September 12, 2013 Share Posted September 12, 2013 It appears to be axle stock. 4140 is a good guess. That's not high carbon... but it makes pretty good drifts for most purposes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rustyanchor Posted September 12, 2013 Share Posted September 12, 2013 I would agree it looks like the innards of an axle, possibly from an alien space craft, but not sure on that. The circus used to come to town and they used those as "tent pegs", drove them in with big sledge hammers, used the elephants to pull them out. Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yahoo2 Posted September 12, 2013 Share Posted September 12, 2013 Looks like the driveshaft for the chamber packing fingers on an international small square hay baler. the tapered keyway would fit a 45 degree timed bevel gear the 90 degree gear end is driven from the plunger crankshaft. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted September 12, 2013 Share Posted September 12, 2013 I've seen them used a tent pegs for large tents too; so probably something that was common some time ago. While we would use 4140 it may have been a straight carbon steel "back then"... High Carbon can be detected by the spark test; especially comparing with a good file. Medium carbon is a bit harter to judge without a lot of known samples Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Turley Posted September 16, 2013 Share Posted September 16, 2013 ...fell off the Hubble telescope? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seldom (dick renker) Posted September 16, 2013 Share Posted September 16, 2013 it is an axle off of some type machine. when i was a kid we used them all the time to stake out critters on a chain. chain had a big loop on one end and the axle was slide through it then driven into ground with sledge hammer. nothing ever pulled them out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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