Elefanten Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 Hello all New hobby novice blacksmith here. Just got my forge setup and i am looking for some mild steel to use. I have been to the local scrapyard and found some springs, but im trying to get mild steel. I live in Europe (Norway) and i struggle to find mild steel. My local supplier can provide me with S235 and C16 steel, i do not know what is the difference and is ? Is there milder steel than this i can ask for ? Regards Elefanten Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onetreeforge Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 If you see steel looking like this in most cases its mild, if it was spring steel or some kind of high carbon and you got it for scrap price your doing well, you could make tools with it. read up on the spark test with a grinder, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 Do you need to pay a steep premium for excessively mild steel? C16 C 0.12-0.18 ≤ Si 0.40 ≤ Mn 0.60-0.90 ≤ P 0.045 ≤ S 0.045 S235 C 0.17 ≤ Mn 1.40 ≤ P 0.045 ≤ S 0.045 Most of use are forging A36 these days when we want "mild steel" as it's the cheapest and easiest to find C 0.25 - 0.290 %, Cu 0.20 % Fe 98.0 % Mn 1.03 % P 0.040 % Si 0.280 % S 0.050 % Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted February 13, 2014 Share Posted February 13, 2014 Welcome aboard Elefanten, glad to have you. If you'll put your general location in the header you might be surprised how many of the IFI gang live within visiting distance. Town/city and country are generally plenty close enough. I'm not much help with the mild steel but the guys have you pretty well covered. It's what we do, we help each other. Even if it's just a good laugh sometimes. <grin> Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gergely Posted February 13, 2014 Share Posted February 13, 2014 Hi and welcome Elefanten! If you dig for scrap, look for longer, almost or totally straight pieces. Round, rectangular or flat, every single one is mostly mild steel. If you can bend a meter long piece with your bare hands and then straighten it back - you found mild steel. (Except if you try to bend thicker stuff, or you are Thor in diisguise and able to bend springsteel, too. :) ) Easiest to recognize the rebars (structural steel for concrete constructions = that iron stuff which sticks out from demolished concrete stuff), although it can be a bit unbalanced to work with - it may contain bigger amounts of carbon as mild steel. I often try to check the sound of the material I found, doesn't work always, but gives some guidelines. Blunt ding (dung :) ) usually goes for mild steel, sharp ringing means high carbon. (Mostly, but...) If you have a file with you, try and use it on the stuff: mild is cut by it easily, high carbon not quite. In time you can even see the difference between the filed-off metal dust. Experiment with different materials - and keep looking around here, because the answers are already waiting for you, just have to find them. Greetings and beste ønsker! Gergely Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stefflus Posted February 13, 2014 Share Posted February 13, 2014 Hei Elefanten :) What general area are you in? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elefanten Posted February 13, 2014 Author Share Posted February 13, 2014 Thanks all for the warm welcome ! This really helped me out, I can't tell if i get good prices from my local supplier but it gets me started. Can you notice the difference in Manganese levels in C16 and S235 when forging ? Gregerly : I will bring my new visdom next time i go to the scrapyard . Stefflus : I am located in Rogaland County - Bryne. Thanks again. Elefanten Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted February 13, 2014 Share Posted February 13, 2014 I don't usually notice Mn level variations much when hot forging though they do make a difference in cold working steel. Try asking for the cheapest metal they have that is not concrete reinforcing rod. I also ask for off size and damaged steel---rusty pitted marked, etc as I'm going to be changing the size and surface with fire and hammer anyway! My last visit to the steelyard I bought 4 barrels of the heavy 1/4"-5/16" steel wire they use to bind steel bundles for shipping over here. It's real soft under the hammer and there are lots of things I can forge from it and they sold it to me for SCRAP RATE! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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