grisaille Posted October 22, 2014 Share Posted October 22, 2014 Being new to this craft I am interested in making some of the tools I will use in the near and far future. While I do not wretch at the concept of buying steel from metal suppliers, I also am in an advantageous spot to hit scrap yards and flea markets. In reading many of the posts here and elsewhere I see that type of steel is important, as is the method of quenching, hardening, (treatment). Is there a post, link, or thread/sticky somewhere that I may have missed that roughly matches up grades of steel with their original manufacturing applications, and what recycled/reforged application that steel would then be good for. Such as: "car axles are X grade, so you could make a _______ out of one" I have taken note of and downloaded the heat treatment app. Also, a couple years back at auction I grabbed, along with some 50 cent digging/pry bars, a 5' length of 1 1/2" hex stock with a round, maybe 1 1/8" tenon on one end. What would that be used for. This was in southeastern Pennsylvania farm country. ~grisaille Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SJS Posted October 22, 2014 Share Posted October 22, 2014 There is the junkyard and railroad steel list under Pages at the top menu here... There is also destructive testing on your mystery steels. Basically forge you big hex bar down to between 1/2" and 1/4" flat and cut it up into 4 equal sections. Get your quenches ready and let one air cool, quench one in warm oil, one in water, and one in salt water. See which one you like the best. Use a file to test hardness, and break in the vice to test toughness. Some steels have to be tempered to not break, others will do fine. Of course some may quench crack and shatter in water so... Always use proper PPE, like safety glasses, protective long sleeves and gloves for destructive testing. Lots of grades of steel are available in hex, could be 4140, 1085, or any number of steels, or letters for that matter;-) S1... You can also take it to a yellow heat and see if it crumbles into cottage cheese, then it is definitely a hot short steel, so maybe it could be a resulfurized steel like 1145, or more likely a 1095, or high alloy steel... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted October 22, 2014 Share Posted October 22, 2014 And remember *any* such list of steels is merely a "suggestion" and not a law! And some are far far off---your regular jackhammer bit is more likely 1050 than S7 by large large margin! In 33 years of smithing I have even run into a leaf spring that could not be quench hardened! (micro alloyed, strain hardened) Junkyard steel rules are TEST TEST TEST Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Sells Posted October 22, 2014 Share Posted October 22, 2014 the key to remember when using salvaged material, is that you are using what you can find. So expect the possibility that the part you are recycling was made by a person with same idea. Therefore the chances for success increase when we choose a similar duty item for the salvage. Meaning if we want to make a hammer, use old tools that were used for striking; a knife should be made from a cutting tool, a pry bar for stress related work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted October 22, 2014 Share Posted October 22, 2014 And in *old* farm implements a lot of times they used what *they* could find; especially in the '30's and in poor areas so two support bars doing the same job, one might be real wrought iron and the other high carbon steel. After several times being blindsided by a piece being a different carbon content than would be expected; I now tend to test *before* sinking a lot of time into a project using it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SmoothBore Posted October 22, 2014 Share Posted October 22, 2014 Therefore the chances for success increase when we choose a similar duty item for the salvage. Meaning if we want to make a hammer, use old tools that were used for striking; a knife should be made from a cutting tool, a pry bar for stress related work. ----------------------------------------------------------------- I didn't read the above quote, until after I'd already posted the thoughts below. It seems we concur on this approach ..... ------------------------------------------------------------------ If I have a specialized application, that requires a particular grade of steel, ... then of course, I take pains to determine the properties of the material at hand. But for the majority of "general purpose" applications, I don't get too concerned about the material. My tendency is to "over Engineer" everything anyway, ... which pretty much takes the chance of material failure out of the equation. If, for instance, I want to make a particular type of Chisel or Punch or Cutting Tool, ... my "go to" approach, would be to re-work some existing item into the desired configuration. I pick up all the old Cold Chisels, Files, Hammers and Saw Blades that I can use, ... from Flea Markets and Yard Sales, ... for very little money. In that way, I know I'm using an appropriate material, ... without getting too far out "in the weeds" worrting about some arbitrary "grade". . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grisaille Posted October 22, 2014 Author Share Posted October 22, 2014 Okay, thanks. That all makes perfect sense. I have a couple hundred pounds of flea market chisels. Making my own tools for other applications is what got me involved with this anvil business to begin with. Thanks. Chisels from chisels, test, test, test. ~grisaille Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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