Black Frog Posted May 20, 2014 Share Posted May 20, 2014 I gave the owner of my favorite salvage yard a really nice polished bottle opener with the name of his business, his name, and year stamped on it. He loved it, wants to order a few for friends, and now I pretty much have the run of the place when I visit to scrounge for cool stuff. :) I saw these huge rollers of some sort, probably 2.5"-3" in diameter and quite long. Wondering what type of steel they might be? Or what I might use them for other than tools.... Saw several fork lift tines, but the end ones on here are larger/thicker than most I've seen. Problem is how to get them off of there..... This round steel plate caught my eye. About 36" across, maybe 1.25" thick. Maybe a good plate for a small power hammer? Or a stand alone post vise base? No shortage of thick steel plate.... Seems to be all over. Nice round plates too of differing diameters and thicknesses. Besides all the lovely plate, that rectagular column piece in front looks particularly attractive. Nothing in this picture gives the scale, but some of that larger round steel on the back left is 24" to 32" dia. The large steel sheets here are 1/2". Not a rock on the right, that's an old wrecking ball. He promised me that somewhere under this pile of cast parts is a swage block, and he'll be clearing out this pile later in the summer. No idea on the condition, but I'm not going to complain if I can get it. With all the I-beams and round/rectangular steel, I could easily find parts to make my post vise mount. Just have to come up with a design to start the project. I could spend all day looking through this place..... Everywhere I look I see possibilities for projects. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpankySmith Posted May 20, 2014 Share Posted May 20, 2014 I'd like to nose dive into that last photo's pile. I'm on vacay in a few weeks, plan to spend at least part of it scrounging through junkyards. Hope to find one this promising! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted May 20, 2014 Share Posted May 20, 2014 Well when I removed a tine from a forklift that had been run off a bluff edge and onto a spoil pile, (site clean up was different in the old days...) I took a 30" hack saw and sawed through the large round stock it was mounted on. Tedious but far away from any power. The rod was rusted in place and I left it a bit proud to use as a "horn". My tine weighed around 180# according to friends who got the other one after I gave up the locations of all my favorite scrounge places when I moved. 1500 miles away. At the scrapyard they should have O-A or O-P cutting torch. I have negotiated getting strategic cuts made for a suitable sixpack delivered on a hot Friday afternoon... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Coke Posted May 20, 2014 Share Posted May 20, 2014 Greetings Frog man, Looks like you found blacksmith heaven. You should invest in a battery powered portaban saw. There is no such thing as junk steel.. You just have to find something beautiful in it.. Forge on and make beautiful things Jim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Frog Posted May 20, 2014 Author Share Posted May 20, 2014 He has a torch there, I've had him cut some I-beam for me in the past. The owner is as good with a torch as anybody I've ever seen. I don't want to ask too many favors until I get all my ducks lined up in a row for several projects. The battery powered portaband is a good idea. I'll have to look into that. Just thinking about that 36" dia plate for a stand alone post vise base, if it is around 1.25" thick that'll probably be around 350 pounds for the plate alone. Add the steel column, top plate, and hefty 7" post vise..... probably pushing 600# for the package. I like the idea of a round plate for the base in case I need to move it. At least you could angle it to the side and roll it with a round base. But not sure if a thick round base would be irritating to have during use. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted May 20, 2014 Share Posted May 20, 2014 In my shop I would just set it down in the dirt floor a bit---make a handy upsetting plate too. As for vise stability the size may be more important than the weight. If you can stand on it while working then the vise usually won't try to skitter off on you. OTOH I can tip 600# fairly easily when working large stock and not near the fulcrum point. Do you have an outdoor set up where you could mount a vise profitably? When you need to work a 20' stick of steel sometimes the great outdoors excels in the elbow room category. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Frog Posted May 20, 2014 Author Share Posted May 20, 2014 Until I can move, my "shop" is confined to about 1/3 of my overly-filled garage. For bigger projects I can spill out on the cement outside. That's part of the reason I thought it would be nice to have something I could move if needed. From this salvage yard, in the last year I've snagged a couple W.I. wagon wheels, two anvils, two blowers, and I know there's a couple beat up post vises laying around. Sad part is that talking with the owner, he says there used to be another even older salvage yard nearby that most likely had a lot of blacksmithing items. Even power hammers that were scrapped because no one wanted them at the time. All long gone now.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted May 20, 2014 Share Posted May 20, 2014 You guys are killing me, all our salvage yards operate under single buyer contracts, individuals aren't even allowed in the gate. Heck, most of the auto wrecking yards just crush and ship the cubes to China too. Round plates make superior mounting plates for a couple reasons: they're stable, especially if you can stand on them, they're easy to move, use a square socket to mount tools to and they're real multi-taskers and moving them is just a matter of inserting a piece of sq tubing in the socket. Id prefer large dia. and thin but smaller and thicker is good. Certainly far superior to a wheel rim, I frankly hate pedestal tools mounted on wheel rims or worse yet truck brake drums. I see all kinds of things begging to be made in those pictures. Some of the large dia. pipe would become a wood gassification stove in my shop that would do multi duty as a charcoal retort, water heater for the in floor hydronics and a handy place to keep the tea kettle and roast hot dogs for lunch. More pieces of pipe would become outdoor fire pits with grills and flat tops.,(griddles) maybe a Mongolian BBQ, short sections, under 12" would serve as wood holders at the BBQs, snazzing them up with critter-like legs and head would be fun. I see any number of power hammers waiting to be born only needing fiddly bits and motors. The long shafting is probably close kin to 4140, you can see the drive gears/sprockets on the end so it's under considerable torque and that length would twist without too much grunt so a good steel is called for. Uh, I gotta stop now or I'll be lost in visualizing all the blacksmith bling I see waiting to be born. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VaughnT Posted May 20, 2014 Share Posted May 20, 2014 I'd be in hog heaven with a place like that close by. That big wheel in the first pic needs to come to my home just so I can hang it on the wall in the shop. The most jealous I've ever been was when I worked as a locator and rolled up to this double-wide way out in the boonies. The floor of his open-air shop was nothing but big gears. Huge gears. I kid you not, he worked in maintenance at the local mill all his life and one of the perks was getting gigantic 6' gears when they were scrapped. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted May 20, 2014 Share Posted May 20, 2014 Problem with a "good" scrapyard is you want to keep rescuing stuff until *you* are out of room. I have a 6 volt old timey wincharger for charging up glass radio batteries that I have nothing to do with but couldn't bear to see it crushed and exported. I just have it hanging from the ceiling out of the way... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Frog Posted May 20, 2014 Author Share Posted May 20, 2014 VT, this place isn't close by to me. But it is near a place I visit often throughout the year. All the yards near me would never let you into the place to poke around. I was tickled when I found this place during my travels, and became fast friends with the owner. That's why I have to plan my visits, and figure out ahead of time what I'm really looking to obtain, other than general forging steel. Here's a lonely post vise bolted to a plate table, probably dangling upside down for decades..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Frog Posted May 20, 2014 Author Share Posted May 20, 2014 Frosty, I was leaning towards the same thoughts on the long shafting.... Yes, he has tons and tons of cool stuff, but he doesn't sell it the cheapest though. Depending on what it is, $.30 to $.50 a pound. While to me, that is rather expensive for scrap, where else am I going to find such an array of treasures all in one place for easy picking? How much is your time worth running around searching all over when needing steel plates, columns, rounds, etc.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danguite Posted May 20, 2014 Share Posted May 20, 2014 Looks like the scrapyard near me. I've found a post vise, multiple hardie tools, hammers, etc. the couple times I've been there. I told them once to keep an eye open for a power hammer. The next time I stopped by they had an antique air hammer / chisel set aside for me. =) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VaughnT Posted May 20, 2014 Share Posted May 20, 2014 Frog, a yard like that would definitely be worth the trip! It's like Shangri La for the smiths. Heck, if I could find a place like that within a few hundred miles, I'd be making the trip every chance I could. Far better than Disney World in my estimation! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Coke Posted May 20, 2014 Share Posted May 20, 2014 Greetings Frogman, That would be a super heavy post vise stand.. You really don't need such a heavy one.. Enclosed a pict of one I made from a cast drill press that works very well. It moves out on one of my cement pads very easy with some round wood rollers... Old broom sticks... I like the added table for tools and clamping ... It makes a neet lil work station... Keep a digging and Forge on and make beautiful things Jim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted May 20, 2014 Share Posted May 20, 2014 Good scrap and a friendly owner is worth a little more /lb. Heck, it wouldn't matter what I wanted to pay a lb. if a yard sold me anything, the penalties would eat them alive. In the late 90's when I could still shop the scrap yard there used to be stacks of rail car axles, a good hundred every time I stopped by. Nice anvils, 9 7/8" dia. x 5' some inches long 4140, cal it around 1,300lbs. all replaced as part of routine scheduled maintenance on rail cars. I was convinced pick up a bucket of spikes by the guy I was associated with at the time and the yard guys just threw it in the pickup, no charge. Had I a clue I would've grabbed a bucket of clips instead but what did I know. Anymore you don't even see RR scrap at the yards. The RR just loads old gondola cars with scrap and hauls them to the docks to be loaded for China car and all. <sigh> Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Coke Posted May 21, 2014 Share Posted May 21, 2014 Frosty, Rest easy the scrap will come back to you in the form of your next pickup truck.. XXXX0000XXX000 Forge on and make beautiful things Jim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ausfire Posted May 21, 2014 Share Posted May 21, 2014 That 36 inch round plate would make the mother of all barby plates! Great pics! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted May 21, 2014 Share Posted May 21, 2014 I generally round up the pennies to the next dollar when buying scrap. That way we both don't have to deal with change and I'm very happy to keep them happy to have me prowl the piles. Also when they want a "special price" on an individual item,I don't try to beat them down on price. I either pay it or toss the item back on the pile with a smile. (After doing this a while they generally just let me have everything at scrap price...) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Frog Posted May 21, 2014 Author Share Posted May 21, 2014 Being that I am rather frugal (cheap?) at times, I still have a tough time plunking down a good chunk of cash for a just a plate of steel that still needs to be made into something else.... Frosty, I'm going to ask next time about rail axles. He knows where just about everything is located there, if he has them he will remember. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted May 21, 2014 Share Posted May 21, 2014 After buying "new" a couple of times a great deal on a scrap piece is plainly apparent. I remember bidding on a pile of scrap at the University surplus auction trying to get 1 1"x32"x44" slab as a base for a treadle hammer. Lost the bid to a scrapper but swung a deal with him afterwards for just the slab---it was a good fraction of the total price for the lot but I got what I needed at a very good price compared to new! Now I do object to them trying to sell me something they paid scrap rate for at an inflated price---but I've trained them that trying to do so gets them nothing from me rather than a good price paid in cash with no crushing/shipping/hassle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Frog Posted May 21, 2014 Author Share Posted May 21, 2014 I guess I also have to weigh in the fact that he will go grab what I want with the skid loader, bring it up front and cut it if needed, then load it in my truck. Me avoiding that hassle sure is worth something extra.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WayneCoeArtistBlacksmith Posted May 22, 2014 Share Posted May 22, 2014 Yeah Frogie, when I used to buy wood chips from the saw mill for horse bedding they would charge me $25.00 for as much as they could put on my pickup using the loader. I told them that I wasn't paying $25.00 for the wood chips, I was paying them to load it and if they would come out to the barn I would give them another $25.00 to take it off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BIGGUNDOCTOR Posted May 22, 2014 Share Posted May 22, 2014 Here are some pics of the base my Dad made. The bottom plate is 24" x 2" thick. I have not had any problems with this design. The hole in the top plate was so if it needed any weight added, but haven't needed to so far. It is nice when you can find someone who will work with you like your scrapper will. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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