rdennett Posted February 17, 2014 Share Posted February 17, 2014 I have a decent supply of high carbon steel, but I am running low on the low carbon stuff. My favorite recycler stopped selling to the public a few years back and while I have found another scrapyard willing to sell to me, but most of what they have is car parts and structural steel. I understand that the structural stuff is probably A36 which is low carbon, but the size of most of the pieces doesn't lend itself to me transporting them. I also have a friend who is a mechanic and is willing to set aside broken parts for me. Are there any useful mild steel parts I should have him look out for? Thanks, Rob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Sells Posted February 17, 2014 Share Posted February 17, 2014 torsion bars and springs, axles, even some old tank parts are cool. Hofi has his blacksmith school near Tel Aviv he could show ya all sorts of neat tricks with tank parts. Pop in some time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted February 17, 2014 Share Posted February 17, 2014 Rob: where are you? You never know someone here may have just what you're looking for but don't know you're in the neighborhood. Failing luck and buying from the steel yard I suppose you could talk to the folk at a fab shop, the ones doing fences, railings and things like windmills often have drops too small for them to use but fine for us. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ASMEsecIX Posted February 18, 2014 Share Posted February 18, 2014 get a hold of stovestoker in Abilene and pick up a truck load of those sucker rods! He just made a post "no shortage of suckers". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricJergensen Posted February 18, 2014 Share Posted February 18, 2014 Sucker rod is indeed really cheap metal for many. However, it's usually something like 4130. Usually stiffer than A36 and trickier to forge weld. The car parts Steve mentioned are medium to high carbon or high alloy parts. Plenty useful, but not generally in the low-carbon category. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Sells Posted February 18, 2014 Share Posted February 18, 2014 They are not high alloy at all. they are all well under 2% alloy elements. and medium to low carbon, Low alloy are very usable steel parts. the valves in the engine would be a high alloy, the bearing races might be high. Many of the junk at some scrap yards is not really usable, other things are. It is hard to say because we have no clue what part of the world he is in. Or what he wants them for. The only really low carbon would be the body panels. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rdennett Posted February 18, 2014 Author Share Posted February 18, 2014 I am in Austin, TX. I have no specific use for such metal at this time. I asked about car parts because they are the easiest for me to acquire. I will see about companies making fences and so forth. One problem with drops is that scrap prices are high enough that people are poaching it to sell to scrapyards. The problem that I have with new steel is transporting it back to my shop. I don't do this professionally so I am not going to pay to have a bunch of stuff delivered if I don't have to. Thanks, Rob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dodge Posted February 18, 2014 Share Posted February 18, 2014 I believe most car frames are mild or low carbon guys cut and weld on them all the time with just regular welding rod, wire. Also, as mentioned, the body panels are mild. All the moving parts and support and suspension parts under the car (Axles, springs, stabilizer bars, tie rods, idler arms, pitman arms etc) would be mid to higher carbon and alloy.... The alloys aren't real exotic because (while you may destroy the heat treat) you can weld most of it to each other fairly successfully using typical welding procedures. Albeit I wouldn't risk my life on some of those welded combinations. (Thinly disguised disclaimer :D ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted February 18, 2014 Share Posted February 18, 2014 You see a problem, I see where they might be happy for you to buy it as scrap on the spot so they don't have any problems with poachers. Nice thing about drops is that they are usually smaller and so easier to transport. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles R. Stevens Posted February 18, 2014 Share Posted February 18, 2014 Tommas, wasn't it you talking about the mild steel strapping from steel yards? The stuff that holds the huddles together from their suppliers? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted February 18, 2014 Share Posted February 18, 2014 Well the strapping I use for making pattern welded billets; my recent post was about the heavy steel wire used to bundle stock. Heavy enough to be useful, light enough to be easy to work and generally scrapped or thrown away, (make friends at large construction sites; they oftne throw it away or bury it) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles R. Stevens Posted February 18, 2014 Share Posted February 18, 2014 Modern body panels use a low temp hardening steel, it's soft for forming in the dies, but gets harder at the temp that they cure paint. And many modern frames are heat treated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caladin Posted February 24, 2014 Share Posted February 24, 2014 Metals4u in pflugerville /round rock area, right on 35, they sell it to you small quantities, cut it it to fit in your vehicle... They have a south central location called i think westbrook metals, it's on the website for metals4u That's where I get my mild when i need it.. Eric (in Pflugerville) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VaughnT Posted February 24, 2014 Share Posted February 24, 2014 "Metals4u in pflugerville /round rock area..." Therein lies the solution. I just watched a video on the net where a smith took a piece of thick rebar and pounded it out with the help of a striker. They ended up with a piece of steel that looked like 1"x.5"x48", which they cut into shorter lengths to make a pair of tongs. The whole time I'm watching this, I couldn't help but tally up the incredible waste of fuel and manpower. They could have bought five times the metal for what they spent in fuel, I'm sure. All that to say.... grabbing scrap when you can is great, but you have to be really careful or you'll soon exceed the cost of simply buying new stock in the size you need. A leaf-spring can be forge welded up into a big chunk that will make a great sledge-hammer, but it's hardly as efficient or cheap as either buying a sledge or buying a large chunk of steel to make into a sledge. Similarly, drawing out a piece of rebar to make a piece of 1x.5 is simply ludicrous when it would have been far better to simply buy stock in that size. Home repair stores sell A36 in 3' lengths. It's not the cheapest price you'll ever see, but it's cheaper than driving around for hours trying to find a piece of scrap that's just right. Are you looking to forge or scrounge? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted February 24, 2014 Share Posted February 24, 2014 Well if you are around "big box stores" that will sell steel you are probably near a steel dealer that will sell you 3 times as much for the same price... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VaughnT Posted February 25, 2014 Share Posted February 25, 2014 Exactly my point, Thomas. It's almost always cheaper to buy at a retailer than it is to scrounge for "free" metal. Even way out in the country, I've never found a small mom-n-pop hardware store that didn't sell short lengths of A36. True-Value, Home Depot, Fastenal, Lowe's, whoever. It might be a bit more expensive than the steel dealer, but you still save time over scrounging and then reshaping what you find. Shoot, I was in Tractor Supply the other day and noticed they had neat little spring-tooth things for a mechanized hay rake. Yea, it was more expensive than I could buy known-alloy stock on the internet, but it was there and it was handy. So, I picked up one to experiment with. If nothing else, it's .25" diameter is a perfect size for making simple c-type flint strikers and small carving tools. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted February 25, 2014 Share Posted February 25, 2014 It depends on how you count your time. As a hobbyist I count my time scrounging against "entertainment" and mild steel is often the side effect of hunting interesting shapes or alloys which for me would be a 100 mile each way trip to the big city to find anything over A 36. So my last two trips to the scrap yard netted me a lot of small thrust bearings, real wrought iron, a 4" fuller C clamp, a nice old rock drill stem *without* a coolant hole! (from the old mines I'd bet) A valve protector from a welding tank. A steel milk crate. 6' of sucker rod. Total was $21 and a bit more than the time it would have taken me to drive into the local small town with a hardware store. ( I also find short lengths of typically used mild steel on a regular basis that I buy for 20 cents a pound and stockpile) Now if I am planning a mild steel project of any size it's hands down faster and cheaper to go buy the stuff; but by regular scrounging *my* scrap pile generally has stuff on hand for an enormous number of projects and being in the country there is no problems about having a scrap pile save perhaps to be wary of possible snake issues---which I would have in my yard anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VaughnT Posted February 26, 2014 Share Posted February 26, 2014 As a hobbyist, Thomas, you still have to account for the cost of reshaping that product to fit your needs. That you have a such a god-send of a scrapyard so handy is great, and proven time and again by the wonderful stuff you get there at scrap rates. However, that only goes to reinforce what I was saying earlier. Buying $100 worth of stuff for $20 is always a good thing, but burning up $100 worth of time and fuel to turn that $20 worth of stuff into something you could have bought for $10 is not. I routinely find a bunch of 1/4" and 1/8" round stock in the woodline surrounding the local cemeteries. Folks put up wreathes on nice stands, then throw the stands into the woods when the flowers are all wilted. Great material, known locations, fun scrounging, but I would never try to forge-weld all those stands into a big chunk of metal to make a hammer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timothy Miller Posted February 26, 2014 Share Posted February 26, 2014 Visit your local railing shop they have old railings and cut offs just laying around for scrap. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted February 26, 2014 Share Posted February 26, 2014 bring hand forged trinkets for the office staff! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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