The Hess Posted August 29, 2016 Share Posted August 29, 2016 Hello everyone my name is Jeremy and I'm fairly new to blacksmithing. I am also in the navy stationed in southern spain. I got my start one day because I had a fire going in the yard and had a piece of rebar I threw into it as the fire burned and the wind picked up I was able to start seeing the changes taking place within the bar and decided I'd give it a shot I found a 50 kg peddinghaus anvil in town at a shop being shut down for 200 and decided that was a great start and was also the purchase that solidified my decision to start smithing I then purchased the whitlocks wood fire forge with a hand blower and went to work and cut a ton of rebar we had sitting around the compound. With that rebar I have made some knives key chains a couple pendants and bracelets along with some punches and some drifts my next project is a couple pairs of tongs. But enough back ground on my short career so far this is about a steel I just purchased. I was visiting shops around town looking for a piece of steel that would work for a hammer I found nothing but I was told to go out to the local steel mill. Upon getting there they still didn't have anything big enough for me to use without doing some major upsetting but they did have some rebar big enough that I was about to get a few pieces cut for free. What I also got was 6 meters of a carbon steel content and type completely unknown. All the people could tell me was that in spain they call it sweet steel. Has anyone heard of this before? Is this the same as sweet iron that you would use for horse bits? Also if so what type of quench would work best I plan to take all the scale off it and heat it to just above non magnetic then air cool it file test it and see how it does if it's still soft reheat and oil quench it and file test again just wondering if anyone on here has an idea and might be able to save me some time. Thank you all for your time and help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Geist Posted August 29, 2016 Share Posted August 29, 2016 Never heard that term but will try to find out. Any chance they might mean "Swede" steel? A very good grade of tool steel comes from Sweden and I have heard that term. In the meantime your plan sounds like a good one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted August 29, 2016 Share Posted August 29, 2016 I thought "dulce" steel was usually very low carbon and so sweet to forge with. I'd do a quench and break test first before doing any more work on an unknown piece. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Hess Posted August 29, 2016 Author Share Posted August 29, 2016 Thank you George and Thomas. I do t plan to put to much work into them until I figure out the heat treating portion of things if they can't harden for some reason I have other projects I can use it for other then blades. Thank you both for the Intel so far it's great to have the ability to get advice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IronAlchemy Posted August 29, 2016 Share Posted August 29, 2016 My daughter forged in Spain as part of a college exchange. She told me that the term "acero dulce" was used for what we call "pure iron". As Thomas suggests, it is ultra low carbon and indeed very easy to forge. It was used for all the restoration jobs that she saw. Doug Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the iron dwarf Posted August 29, 2016 Share Posted August 29, 2016 have used butter iron from the pure iron company Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Latticino Posted August 29, 2016 Share Posted August 29, 2016 Sounds like a great candidate for a low carbon body hammer with forge welded tool steel facing. Grab some truck leaf spring and go to town. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted August 29, 2016 Share Posted August 29, 2016 Welcome aboard Hess, glad to have you. If you'll put your general location in the header you might find other Iforge members within visiting distance. Check with truck repair shops, a broken truck axle makes good hammer stock among other useful tools. I try to avoid rebar, it's pretty inconsistent in it's formula so there's no telling what's going to turn out. We LOVE pics so don't be afraid to post pics, lots of pics and almost anything you'd let a child look at. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aessinus Posted August 30, 2016 Share Posted August 30, 2016 Welcome & thanks for your service. You at Rota? I have a friend in the north that may know; shot her a msg. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Hess Posted August 30, 2016 Author Share Posted August 30, 2016 Thank you everyone for the info and welcomes I am in rota. I will go ahead and add my location and I will sure to add plenty of pictures when ever I finish something new. I'm in the process of doing a pair of tongs for flat stock. It's my first set and so far doing pretty well just have to drift the hole and put my rivit I made out of rebar in it and peen it out. I'll be sure to add pictures once I finish up. Again thank everyone for the input on this subject. And with this being probably real low carbon what are some uses I could find for it? Would it have the ability to be used for tool making say some splitters drifts or draw knives for Bowyer work? When drawing out a stave for a bow you don't want a super shard draw knife so would this possibly work? Also if it's super low carbon I'm probably looking at a water quench to harden it if it hardens at all correct? Still reading everything I can on the subjects and learning every step of the way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrDarkNebulah Posted August 30, 2016 Share Posted August 30, 2016 It wont harden at all if it is very low carbon. It is fantastic for anything except tools or things that need to be hardened. Ornamental work and the lot will be great for it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted August 30, 2016 Share Posted August 30, 2016 No, very low carbon steel won't make most tools. A chisel or draw knife edge would roll in use. You want at least medium carbon steel, high carbon would be better. Near pure iron or very low carbon steel forges at low temperatures, mid to low red heat so it scales more slowly but it forges beautifully. Not scaling quickly means you can forge or carve fine details and not have them ruined by scale. While not good for structural it's perfect for decorative pieces from detailed jewelry to window grates. It's wonderful to work. I highly recommend you buy mild steel from a steel yard rather than use rebar. Rebar is too inconsistent being made from scrap using rather vague production specifications. It can range from good mild up to tool steel carbon content. It's hard to work with simply because you can't count on two pieces being alike. It's really hard to learn the craft with. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Hess Posted August 30, 2016 Author Share Posted August 30, 2016 Trying to find a steel yard here is hard in fact that is where I got the "sweet steel" it was all they had. There are also no junk yards as the Spanish don't allow you to use parts off old vehicles they crush the cars and let them pile up. Trying to have steel shipped costs more for the shipping then for the steel makes it not worth it actually. I would love to be able to use some known steel and get projects done right but I can only work with what I have and at this point it's rebar and "sweet steel". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted August 30, 2016 Share Posted August 30, 2016 Anything on base? Most had a place for auto repairs and getting a leaf or coil spring before it went to the yard might work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gote Posted August 30, 2016 Share Posted August 30, 2016 American rebar may be made from scrap. Swedish rebar is made with close analysis tolerances. Carbon (0.17) Someone in Spain must tell about Spanish rebar but I asume it conforms to the same standard as the Swedish. You may be able to get bits and pieces from auto repair shops like discarded springs and shafts. These make tools. Make friends with the local repair guys. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Hess Posted August 30, 2016 Author Share Posted August 30, 2016 I'm trying everything I can to get my hands on any coils or leafs I can get the problem with on base is all the shops are run by the Spanish and trying to get them to do anything is impossible. They don't completely like us here Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rthibeau Posted August 30, 2016 Share Posted August 30, 2016 how long you gonna be in Rota and where will you be afterwards? You get to the States and all kinds of supply possibilities open up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Hess Posted August 30, 2016 Author Share Posted August 30, 2016 Another 18 months or so here and then back to washington where I have all the material I could ever want lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BIGGUNDOCTOR Posted August 30, 2016 Share Posted August 30, 2016 Welcome to IFI from another Hess. Most of my relatives were out of the Michigan area, but I do have an aunt in Tacoma. Get to be friends with someone with an auto repair, or auto body shop to get springs, axles, etc.. Make them something and they may be calling you when they pull something they think you might like. Same thing with the wrecking yards, make them something, and they may let you pull some parts. Another option would be to contact a machine shop, or welding company and get some metal scraps -or new material from them. The Air Force bases my Dad was stationed at usually had scrap yards that he could requisition material from for personal projects. The DRMO is also a possibility. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Turley Posted January 19, 2017 Share Posted January 19, 2017 Hierro dulce is the material, wrought iron, no longer made but can be salvaged. Acero dulce is mild steel having a relatively low carbon content. Dulce translates as "sweet." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iron Poet Posted January 19, 2017 Share Posted January 19, 2017 On 8/30/2016 at 9:09 AM, MrDarkNebulah said: It wont harden at all if it is very low carbon. It is fantastic for anything except tools or things that need to be hardened. Ornamental work and the lot will be great for it. A soft faced hammer is a good idea. I got hit by an inch long steel chip about a month ago and it took a 1/4" deep chunk out of my arm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted January 19, 2017 Share Posted January 19, 2017 1 hour ago, Iron Poet said: A soft faced hammer is a good idea. Ditto on that. I have a wrought iron stonemason's sledgehammer that I sometimes use for heavy punching; it's nice not to have to worry about chips or splinters. 1 hour ago, Iron Poet said: I got hit by an inch long steel chip about a month ago and it took a 1/4" deep chunk out of my arm. It ain't a party 'til someone bleeds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc1 Posted January 19, 2017 Share Posted January 19, 2017 Hierro dulce, is a generic expression to refer to mild steel or iron of any description. It's not a technical term but a colloquial term. You can not do a literal translation into sweet steel. Such is meaningless in English. Literal translations are the death of any language particularly Spanish that is littered with anglicism that the gate keepers accept and place in the dictionary with an alacrity worthy of a better cause. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iron Poet Posted January 19, 2017 Share Posted January 19, 2017 2 hours ago, JHCC said: It ain't a party 'til someone bleeds. The worst part is that I wasn't even one of the guys wailing on the piece of tool steel with sledgehammers, I was about 10 feet away. It hit me with such force that I thought that a hammer head came lose and hit my arm. For a couple of days afterward I couldn't even open or close my hand, even now my hand hurts if I move it wrong. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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