ausfire Posted January 19, 2016 Share Posted January 19, 2016 I was hunting around in the scrap for some sculpture parts when I found a few of these things. They are teeth for a loader bucket or some other earthmover, but I'm thinking they might be a useful hot cut hardie. If I cut the tabs off the bottom and weld on a square section to suit the hardie hole I can't see why it wouldn't work. Would save a lot of forge work. I'm not sure if it's hard faced, tempered or what, so I haven't taken the grinder to the cutting edge yet. A file wants to skid off. Any ideas for a hardie tool or just chuck them back in the scrap? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seek Posted January 19, 2016 Share Posted January 19, 2016 Looks like cast iron. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John McPherson Posted January 19, 2016 Share Posted January 19, 2016 More likely cast steel. Give it a good whack with a hammer and see if the lugs break off or just bend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
notownkid Posted January 19, 2016 Share Posted January 19, 2016 They are designed to take a beating and keep on ticking, I've certainly put some through some abuse and they didn't break easily. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DSW Posted January 19, 2016 Share Posted January 19, 2016 I know a couple people who have use teeth as hot cuts. I have one myself that I have used before I made my hot cut. As mentioned they are cast steel and very tough. Mine is from an excavator and the machine would easily leave tooth marks in solid concrete or stone without any damage to the bucket teeth other than possibly slight wear. Esco makes decent teeth from what I remember. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianinsa Posted January 19, 2016 Share Posted January 19, 2016 That looks unused, probably worth a few bucks to the right guy! So before you duff it stick it on your local equivalent of fleabay! But I'm sure it'll make a good hotcut. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ausfire Posted January 19, 2016 Author Share Posted January 19, 2016 I gave those lugs a whack with a hammer and apart from a deafening ring there was no reaction. Would not break or bend. I found a newer file and, with some patience, did manage to file a reasonable edge. I'll cut those lugs off and make a hardie and see how it performs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jukejoint Posted January 19, 2016 Share Posted January 19, 2016 Jackhammer bits make good hardies Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smoggy Posted January 20, 2016 Share Posted January 20, 2016 I have to say, Ian is providing sound advice here for anyone re-purposing items old or new, before you give it another life, find out what it's worth as it is. For all we know that item may make enough to buy you a whole heap of tooling! A quick word with a plant fitter or welder from, or dealing with, a local construction firm should give you an idea if it has any value and may even produce a source of free worn out or broken parts you could make good use of! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoCal Dave Posted January 20, 2016 Share Posted January 20, 2016 The question is how to weld a bar for the hardy hole onto your cast material? I'm sure one of the guys on this forum would know. It may be better to ask on the welding section on this forum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ausfire Posted January 20, 2016 Author Share Posted January 20, 2016 5 hours ago, SoCal Dave said: The question is how to weld a bar for the hardy hole onto your cast material? I'm sure one of the guys on this forum would know. It may be better to ask on the welding section on this forum. Dave, I don't believe it is cast. Well, not cast iron anyway. I have no doubt it will weld easily. We shall see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VaughnT Posted January 20, 2016 Share Posted January 20, 2016 That will definitely work. Weld a stem on it and give it a go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ironwolfforgeca Posted January 20, 2016 Share Posted January 20, 2016 that is a high carbon cast steel tooth -- you mite get away with 110-18 or better arc rod pre & post heat a must ! weld will want to shrink pulling away from tooth = crack / cool slowly 100% weld they are bolted or pined in I have had to weld them in when tooth bracket is badly worn sooner or later weld gives Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ausfire Posted January 20, 2016 Author Share Posted January 20, 2016 Vaughn, good to see you are able to post again. I'll try welding a stem on it, but it seems from that last post from IW, that it may not be so straightforward. It's not going on a dozer blade though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DSW Posted January 21, 2016 Share Posted January 21, 2016 Turn your tooth upside down in the vise and heat and upset your shank into the back of the tooth to fill it as much as possible. The welds won't crack if they aren't taking any force. It's pretty much the same idea that keep teeth on a bucket. The ones on our old bucket were only held in by simple roll pins. It was the formed shank that took all the load. I'd forge it close, then heat it good and hot and drive it in to form to the pocket. Then shape your hardy shank if needed and tack the two together. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Coke Posted January 21, 2016 Share Posted January 21, 2016 Greetings Aus , Sometimes the obvious is not clear .. Just put it your vise holding the boss and give it a try.. If you are satisfied with the performance use the open boss ...fit up a hardy blank that fits with the width of the boss and plug weld the window .. Than cut off the other boss . Should work .. I would keep the mass as cool as possible .. Just a old boys 2c.. Good luck Forge on and make beautiful things Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted January 21, 2016 Share Posted January 21, 2016 Bucket teeth are typically pretty high manganese steel, hard and tough. I doubt any mere human could do anything to it it'd notice. Sharpen it up and see how it works as Jim describes. If you weld a shank to it keep it as cool as possible. Manganese has weird HAZ properties it just doesn't like being kept hot for long. Preheating it is exactly the wrong thing to do IF it is manganese steel. I'd stand it in a bucket of water with the zone being welded just above the surface and weld it fast single pass and let the water draw the heat. Don't quench it though just let the water draw it down. Of course I could be wrong, do it my way and extraterrestrials might come arrest you for abusing one of their sperm. Frosty The Lucky. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ausfire Posted January 21, 2016 Author Share Posted January 21, 2016 OK, 'tis done and it works fine. I just caught up with the last few posts. Just cut off the lugs and welded on a 3/8 plate and then a 7/8 stem to fit the hardie hole. Not the tidiest of welds but it seemed to penetrate OK and I think it will hold up to anything I'm likely to dish out. I use a hot cut mostly for nails out of 3/8 mild, so it will handle that. Thanks for all the advice. Much appreciated. Here's a pic: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoCal Dave Posted January 24, 2016 Share Posted January 24, 2016 Ausfire: You can't get away that easy. Did you preheat? What rod did you use and what settings when welding the plate. Good job and good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ausfire Posted January 24, 2016 Author Share Posted January 24, 2016 Dave, No preheat, stick welder turned up max, Satincraft rods bought from Supacheap Auto. Was going to use the Mig but figured I would save the gas and burn up a few old rods. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arkie Posted January 24, 2016 Share Posted January 24, 2016 ausfire, nice job on the hardie. Just curious, if you were able to weld the plate on first, then the bar, why not just weld the square bar directly to the tooth and skip welding on the plate? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick O Posted January 24, 2016 Share Posted January 24, 2016 teeth off of buckets and things that will live a hard life of digging and scraping on rock and dirt will work great for a cutting hardy and maybe other tools Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daswulf Posted January 24, 2016 Share Posted January 24, 2016 Cool Ausfire, I bet you could cut rebar cold on that sucker (tho hot would be recommended) love the things you dig out of your scrap pile. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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