quint Posted December 17, 2013 Share Posted December 17, 2013 Hey guys so a little while back I came across some large anchor chain. Its 1.5" diameter. Thought maybe it could be wrought so brought it home. Well its not, way to new. I got some information off one link. It says 1 1/2in (the size), 14J China (origin I imagine), set of numbers CH53341-C (no idea what this is), and then there is a small iron cross followed by A313 (assume thats the testing standard but dont know). Would anyone that has any experience on this have any insight to possibly what its made of. Spent several hours on the internet with no luck. I did cut a piece off and forged it a little bit then dunked it in water, hardened up some. I tested it at about 55HRC, this was just a heat to bright red and quench. It was still pretty warm when I pulled it out of the quench as it was a thick piece. Anyways thanks for any input on this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John McPherson Posted December 17, 2013 Share Posted December 17, 2013 ASTM A313 / A313M - 13 Standard Specification for Stainless Steel Spring Wire, which may or may not have any bearing on your chain's actual alloy content. It might not make sense to make an anchor chain out of stainless for anything other than a yacht, but that chain would be small enough to qualify. Pure speculation on my part. I got nothin'. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marksnagel Posted December 17, 2013 Share Posted December 17, 2013 Is the individual link 1.5" or is that the diameter of the material? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
njanvilman Posted December 17, 2013 Share Posted December 17, 2013 If the anchor chain is old(pre WW2), the chain is a high quality low carbon steel. The manufacturers made chain larger than they thought needed to compensate for any deficiencies in the steel. The biggest links I know about were made by Baldt, in Chester, Pa for the WW2 era carriers. They made links that were 6 1/2" diameter steel. Each link was about 5 to 6 foot long and weighed in at approx 600 lbs/ link. As steel technology got better, they were able to make the chain out of smaller diameter steel. And the technology changed from a forging process to a fabrication process. The links are now bent and induction welded, then the cross link is inserted and MIG welded in. As to your chain material, it will be at most a medium carbon steel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quint Posted December 17, 2013 Author Share Posted December 17, 2013 Thanks John, thats about as far as I got with anything. Mark the material itself is 1.5" diameter, the entire link is probably 8" or so long (would have to measure). Thanks NJanvilguy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elemental Metal Creations Posted December 18, 2013 Share Posted December 18, 2013 Are the links electrically welded on the sides of the links like a modern chain, or are they forge welded on the ends of the links? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Judson Yaggy Posted December 18, 2013 Share Posted December 18, 2013 Be ware of corrosion resistant coatings on chains, most modern ones have at least zinc, high strength chains sometimes have cadmium plating. Don't know about yours but be careful, breathing heavy metal fumes equals big trouble. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quint Posted December 18, 2013 Author Share Posted December 18, 2013 Thanks for the input guys. Judson I am pretty leery when it comes to that stuff. This chain has the black paint they use on some of them and it had quiet a bit of surface rust. Still caution is a paramount plan. Elemental its hard to tell. I am pretty sure its newer stuff and not really old. The chain itself almost looks like a forged lap weld but hard to verify. I cant see a big weld like what you would expect for a electrical type weld on something this size. Now the center bar, it is definately electrical welded on one side and pressed on the other. I did a ton of searching trying to find stuff out but its really hard, apparently the chinese dont follow all the alloys that are commonly used so you cant compare theres with any of the world wide standards atleast that I could tell. Everything I saw on current stuff for this size ranged from some kind of medium carbon alloy to some kind of simple stainless alloys. This makes me wonder because of the A313 testing standard which as mentioned is for stainless wire so there could be a possibility of it being some kind of simple stainless. However not sure because I know the simpler stainless alloys can and will lightly rust in adverse conditions but not sure of how much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quint Posted January 13, 2014 Author Share Posted January 13, 2014 To follow up on this thread I only found one PDF that had a rough outline for the chemistry layout for a few types of chain. The one I think I have pretty much is medium carbon steel with alot more MN in it theoretically. Had comparible specs to 1045 basically. Not that I know for sure that is what mine is but about as good a guess as any. Did two test pieces tonight, pucks about 1/4" thick of the 1.5" diameter steel. Quenched in both water and oil and got about the same from both, 55-56HRC as quenched. So now my question is what can I do with it. 6" long link of 1.5" steel so about 2 8" pieces cut and stretched out for each link. It is kind of a bear to forge down but figured could maybe make something out of it. Any tools go good at about 52-55HRC or so. Maybe hammers, Imagine some hawks with bits welded. About all I can think of. Ideas appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted January 13, 2014 Share Posted January 13, 2014 You could make anchor chain out of it! Fullers, swages, hammers, tooling! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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