Jump to content
I Forge Iron

Can you tell what kind of steel from this pic?


Recommended Posts

You know now that you mention it. Those kids at the scrap yard have some kind of spectrometer. They used it one time when I though I had stainless. Turned out to be titanium. I was hoping somee would say low.carbon, or high carbon from the color of the sparks.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

HMM... that is surely 1045 or maybe 1050!  It's OBVIOUS!  (BTW we use blue font to signal sarcasm... just so there is no excuse for not getting it)

It really is not possible to say.  The intended use is often a very good clue.  Otherwise buy some and try it!  Do a hardening test and you'll know a bit more.  The way it works under the hammer is a good clue if you have enough experience to interpret it.  A spark test is difficult to read and pretty useless unless you have known steel samples handy for comparison.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I knew my question was a " why is the sky blue" kind of question. But I am trying to learn the differences in steel so when I go to the scrapyard I know what clues to look for when trying to find scrap for each different application. I know it will take more experience heating, banging and using to understand what I am working with.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

some of the basics include:  What was it originally?  As higher carbon steels and tool steels are much more expensive to buy, work, heat treat, etc they will generally not be used unless the original item *demanded* their properties

 

Note that all bets are off on recycling recycled steels---I've found old farm equipment that was repaired at the farm over the years where one piece might be 1020 and the exact same piece on the other side is 1080 as they used whatever was to hand on the farm to fix it.

 

Some scrapyards have dedicated contracts with local manufacturers and so may *know* what they are getting; I remember one in Dayton OH that knew the companies colour coding mapping and so could sort marked items as to exact alloy. Very handy as they dealt a lot in high alloy tool steels and smiths were willing to pay a premium over scrap rate to get H13 or S7!

 

(The problem in a "mixed" scrapyard is that every company has their own colour coding system...)

 

A standard set of "test steels" is handy to have if you are doing spark testing:  Wrought iron, cast iron, 1020, A36, 1045, 4140, 5160, 4340, 1095, W2, O1...as you build up *KNOWN* examples make sure they are marked!  An old silverware drawer can be used to hold marked steels in their slots.

 

Even without exact knowledge File, auto spring, and A36 can help you choose a bucket for unknown steels; though the weirder alloys make trouble---telling WI form CI from some high alloy steels can be very hard, though they will work totally different!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It is not 1040.  1040 will show more bursts.  The picture is not very clear.  1" from a scrapyard could be almost anything.  If it is 1.5", it would be most likely 1045.

 

Do you have coupons for comparison?  I have about 15 different alloys, and sometimes I can nail it so good that I can sell it on Ebay without worrying about bad feedback, and sometimes I am just stumped.  I bought a block for a fabricated anvil, and the scrap yard told me that it was not mild steel "because of the way it rusted".  It did not match any of my coupons.  I shaved off a bit and heat treat tested it.  Not hard.  That's all that mattered, and it was just for curiosity.  That block is now a good anvil, with a 1060 table and a 4140 horn.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Do a hardness test.  heat a small piece and see if it breaks or bends with water or oil.  What most people don't realize now days is those of us from the sixtys and seventys had to TRY and figure things out on our own. It is a time honered test. No worthwhile internet back then unfortunatly.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...