I am just shy about getting underfoot. I will give him a try. Thanks for the advice, and I will surely mention you. Thanks.

Most race car axles are alloy steel, 1550 as an example. Different companies have some proprietary steel alloys and heat treating processes. Monel is used in small quantities in turbine engines but some of the powdered metals have replaced it for their ease of making complex shapes.

I saw one show where an electric car called "Gone Postal" had sooooo much starting torque a drive belt had a catastrophic failure and then a axle snapped. Funny thing about starting torque on an EV is that people have likened it to a rocket taking off.  

Monel is also used as the shaft in fire hydrants from the top valve nut to the valve down in the pipe.  I had the same experience trying to cut or machine it.  I had to use a grinder to cut the shaft.  I did manage to machine it with carbide bits, but I too finally gave up on it.

 

Wish I'd known that a few years back before I gave away a scrap fire hydrant that came off a job. The volunteer FD guy I gave it too probably wouldn't have missed that shaft as all he wanted it for was a decoration for his house.

It is amazing material, I never would have believed the strength until I ran headlong into it, anyone that works it, especially by hand has my respect. If you ever get up to PA you should check out the Bryn Athyn cathedral http://brynathynchurch.org/cathedral/
Well worth my trip from Alaska to see the wonderful Monel forgings they have.

 

Warren Holzman ( Iron Studio LTD here) recently did some new monel handrails for the Bryn Athyn cathedral. I've seen the picts on his facebook page but haven't had the time yet to go see the actual installed pieces.

Warren Holzman ( Iron Studio LTD here) recently did some new monel handrails for the Bryn Athyn cathedral. I've seen the picts on his facebook page but haven't had the time yet to go see the actual installed pieces.

I have been to the cathedral, just awesome. So cool he got to do that, what an honor to have something there.

That's pretty cool you've been there as far away as you are. The cathedral is just a few minutes down the road from where I live, probably less than 5 miles and I've been taking blacksmithing classes at the college across the street every summer for the last couple of years.

 

One of the things I think is so neat is that the church is willing to continue to make changes and is willing to spend the money to do it right. With their congregation aging, they've needed to do things like add hand rails on steps that never had them before, or add a handicapped accessible bathroom.  You'd swear the handicapped bathroom was original to the church, possibly a repurposed room vs a new addition if you didn't know better. It fits in well with the idea of the old medieval cathedrals and how they grew and changed over time.

 

Neat thing I got to see there this summer was the fact that all the wood in the tower was nailed together with hand made monel nails. They were taking up part of the floor of the tower that originally was open as a roof platform to install a new pipe organ. The guys doing the floor removal were showing us all the monel nails they took out to take up the wood needed to make an access panel to get materials and all up thru the tower. I understand all the slate tiles are on with monel nails as well.

 

If you haven't seen them, take a look at some of the picts I took of areas not open to the public generally in the cathedral when I did the tour during my 1st class there a few years back.

 

'?do=embed' frameborder='0' data-embedContent>>