78sharpshooter Posted April 10, 2014 Share Posted April 10, 2014 I collected up the chips from my bandsaw, mostly from cutting 4140 with no coolant, and was wondering if there is anything these chips could be useful for? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LastRonin Posted April 10, 2014 Share Posted April 10, 2014 I wonder if they could be used sort of like powdered steel in pw billets... Or with powdered steel. Would be interesting to me to see the pattern if it worked. Kinda picturing sort of a leopard pattern in my overactive imagination. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Hale Posted April 10, 2014 Share Posted April 10, 2014 My first thought is to add iron to rose bushes... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted April 10, 2014 Share Posted April 10, 2014 I've seen a blade forged from lathe swarf at one quad-state. The mosaic damascus seems a possibility. Some people also add finely divided steel to their flux, (but NOT for pattern welding!) Rose bushes or yew plants also a possibility. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted April 10, 2014 Share Posted April 10, 2014 The roses or peaches will love iron within reason. Adding it to a billet shouldn't be a problem but I don't know if it'll be worth it. I suppose you could make ferric or ferrous chloride with it but I'm NOT going to say how. It can be very dangerous handling acids and we have too many kids here with more to say than knowledge or sense. It's not that hard but it's a process you need to understand and know how to control it. Look it up or ask a chemist. I asked a chemist. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BIGGUNDOCTOR Posted April 10, 2014 Share Posted April 10, 2014 I was thinking of adding into to the flux for welding. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chinobi Posted April 10, 2014 Share Posted April 10, 2014 not for the first time caster, but you might be able to create some interesting patterned materials if you were to incorporate them (DRY, DEVOID OF WATER) into a batch of molten copper/silver/brass/(insert other non-ferrous metal here) shortly before pouring into an ingot mold. forge it out a bit and grind/file to reveal a hopefully speckled interior. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockstar.esq Posted April 10, 2014 Share Posted April 10, 2014 Tumbler abrasive? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arftist Posted April 11, 2014 Share Posted April 11, 2014 The roses or peaches will love iron within reason. Adding it to a billet shouldn't be a problem but I don't know if it'll be worth it. I suppose you could make ferric or ferrous chloride with it but I'm NOT going to say how. It can be very dangerous handling acids and we have too many kids here with more to say than knowledge or sense. It's not that hard but it's a process you need to understand and know how to control it. Look it up or ask a chemist. I asked a chemist. Frosty The Lucky. You can make something even more dangerous than that too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rashelle Posted April 11, 2014 Share Posted April 11, 2014 If you are thinking of using 4140as an additive to welding flux. You are adding chromium and other alloying elements, such as manganese and molybdenum, to your weld. If you are having troubles forge welding adding alloys to the mix will only make it harder to weld. Powdered iron or at least simple steels would be better then an alloy, if you are experimenting with flux's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Judson Yaggy Posted April 11, 2014 Share Posted April 11, 2014 I bet it works great as traction grit on the ice in the driveway! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VaughnT Posted April 11, 2014 Share Posted April 11, 2014 Grit on an icy driveway is always nice, and you can never have too much of it. I mix my salt with sawdust, scale and just about anything else I can get. The sawdust is great because it floats to the top of the melted ice and stays there when the ice refreezes - meaning you always have some traction. I'd be really curious to see how it came out as a can-welded billet. Add some powdered metal to fill all the voids, a quirt of oil, and go to it. Maybe add larger chunks of cut-offs to make "fossil" damascus. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woodsmith Posted April 11, 2014 Share Posted April 11, 2014 I have added steel powder to borax when forge welding, fairly fine steel from the shop floor, picked up with a magnet, not swept up to avoid abrasivewhell dust, I mixed it with the borax just before spooning it onto the weld, wasn't sure how it would do if stored in the borax container, wich is not perfectly free of moisture , this was mild steel only though, and I understand pure iron would be better, I think it helped in sticking a tricky weld, but have only tried it a bit so I wouldn't call it definitive proof. Woodsmith Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rashelle Posted April 11, 2014 Share Posted April 11, 2014 It'd be interesting to try. End result though is, it seems to me at least, good contact and good heat are more important then what flux is used. I play around with flux formulations a bit. None of them seem to be a magic flux. Flux, no flux, whatever works for you is what works. But back to the subject. I have not tried 4140 shavings. I have tried successfully, no flux, sand, borax, anhydrous borax with iron, borax with iron powder and/or boric acid, iron oxide with borax, with/or without boric acid. I also have some ammonium chloride for trying in mixes. All of the above in different proportions. Including bought flux such as iron mountain. The most important thing is do the weld right and you will get the weld, not what flux was or was not used. (Note the above is speaking for myself others can speak for themselves. experience vary.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted April 11, 2014 Share Posted April 11, 2014 You can make something even more dangerous than that too. Friable bullets. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ausfire Posted April 11, 2014 Share Posted April 11, 2014 What about a use for the bandsaw itself? I bent a 25mm bandsaw blade after only a couple of uses (through carelessness). About 12 feet of high quality blade wasted. Didn't have the heart to throw it out after paying good money for it so it's still hanging up in the shed. Does such a thing have any possible use in the forge??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chinobi Posted April 11, 2014 Share Posted April 11, 2014 It seems to be a prime candidate for making pattern welded knife billets, often paired with pallet strapping. Depending on the blade composition it could be used for that. Or at 25mm wide you might be able to make some thin kitchen knives straight out of the blade itself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted April 11, 2014 Share Posted April 11, 2014 Find a nice bowsaw frame like a sandvik and make a mega hacksaw with the BSB. Remember to punch the holes a bit closer than the ones on a wood cutting saw blade so there is a bit more tension. This is assuming that this is a metal cutting BSB of course. If it's a wood one do the same and have a wood saw... Then when it's dull make BSB and pallet strapping pattern welded billets Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VaughnT Posted April 11, 2014 Share Posted April 11, 2014 Bandsaw blades make great scrapers if you do woodwork. Or make a wood handle that allows it to be held easily and make a paint scraper with a removable bit. I'd use it and the swarf to make a bit of can damascus. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted April 11, 2014 Share Posted April 11, 2014 See scratch beader for a woodworking use Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted April 11, 2014 Share Posted April 11, 2014 BSBs generally have a pretty high nickle content so they don't work harden running over the rolls so they make for nice contrast when etched in pattern welds. I hear them called L6 but with all the competition making the things I believe they're L6 equivelants rather than specifically L6. Regardless of what exactly they're made of they weld pretty easily with basic technique, are hardenable, tough and have pretty high contrast when etched. Of course most fab shops just toss the dull and broken ones they're usually free for the asking if you're nice about it. I know I have more 1" wide metal BSBs than I'll use in forever and had to say enough. Big hacksaw frame is a super use and just the thing for a blacksmith to make. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Borntoolate Posted April 11, 2014 Share Posted April 11, 2014 DANG! You guys have all sorts of ideas for using something I haven't really ever thought about even KEEPing! :rolleyes: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woodsmith Posted April 12, 2014 Share Posted April 12, 2014 if you snap the blade into 14"ish lengths and bundle them together, (like wiring up for making a billet) it makes a very aggressive rasp, even if the teeth aren't sharp it will shape wood,roughly but rapidly, Ive also used it to rasp down alluminum castings, the deep gullets of the teeth do not load up like a fine file or sand paper, you can tape the ends together good then wrap with cloth and then more tape to make a comfortable handle at each end. sounds crude but works very well, not as great as a $40 body file but its basically free Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anachronist58 Posted April 12, 2014 Share Posted April 12, 2014 I keep thinking Stains - I have been collecting oak galls - I want to try to make Iron gall stain. You also have me wondering how the oxidized chips, or the rust from them could be combined with navel jelly (Phosphoric Acid) to make a textured conversion coating (faux patina). Disclaimer: I have yet to test any of my book based musings. Were they mine, they would at the least go up on the shelf in a labelled container. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted April 12, 2014 Share Posted April 12, 2014 I keep thinking Stains - I have been collecting oak galls - I want to try to make Iron gall stain. You also have me wondering how the oxidized chips, or the rust from them could be combined with navel jelly (Phosphoric Acid) to make a textured conversion coating (faux patina). Disclaimer: I have yet to test any of my book based musings. Were they mine, they would at the least go up on the shelf in a labelled container. Oooooh, now that's something to try. Phosphoric acid will convert rust back to iron/steel and if you wash and neutralize after cleaning it won't make the black phosphate oxide (whatever the proper term is) black patina. (Parkerize?) Another thing it tends to do is chemically weld rusty parts together and is the reason you must take things apart if you're going to use it more than just a quick brush. Deliberately using it to weld is a neat idea, a real head slapper in fact. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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