November 24, 20169 yr Trying to whip out a few small things for a Christmas craft show I have this weekend. When I was at the scrap yard a few days ago, I grabbed, what I thought was, a 5/8 copper rod, thinking I'd find some uses for it. I thought a copper spoon might be kind of cool, so figured I try one. I was worried about getting the copper to hot, so I kept a very close eye on it, but no matter what I did, it just wasn't moving very easily. I eventually got the spoon shaped, but wasn't happy with a coupe of spots around the bowl, so decided Id just touch them with the angle grinder and level them out real quick, and to my surprise, I got sparks.... a quick test with the magnet, and it turns out it was a steel rod with copper plating. Oh well. I was basically done with the spoon so decided to just polish it up to see what I got, and I was surprised at how much copper remained. Figured I'd label it "decorative only" since I can't be certain what alloys might be involved, but I think it will stand out nicely on the table.
November 24, 20169 yr It was probably a piece of ground rod. I have no idea what steel they are made of...but it's a cool spoon!
November 24, 20169 yr It would be interesting to see what else you could do with that rod using the finishing technique you did. Awww man though, did you pay copper price for a steel rod? Littleblacksmith
November 25, 20169 yr My scap yard sells copper tubing, screwdrivers, and bikes, for all the same price. Nice spoon BTW.
November 25, 20169 yr Author 4 hours ago, littleblacksmith said: It would be interesting to see what else you could do with that rod using the finishing technique you did. Awww man though, did you pay copper price for a steel rod? Littleblacksmith Thankfully, the scrap yard that I frequent the most is owned by a guy who lets me walk out with an arm load of stuff and only asks for a couple of bucks each time I go. I think the most he's ever asked for was $5 when I walked out of there with a couple of leaf spring packs, a couple of coil springs, and a hunk of cable. So, thankfully, if I break it down, I probably paid fifty cents for the thing and I've still got about three feet left, so plenty more to play around with.
November 25, 20169 yr Author 1 hour ago, littleblacksmith said: I wish that was my scrap yard! Littleblacksmith Yeah, I like that one. Unfortunately, when I want railroad spikes, I have to go the big corporate owned one next door to that guy. They must have a contract with the RR or something, because that is the only one where they drop off the old spikes and rail sections after they do repairs around here. That place weighs every little thing you take out of there, and charge anywhere from fifty cents a pound on up... The problem is they get more of the stuff I like to use for my trinkets... the old files, spikes, and such. Treasure hunting at the little guys place is a lot more fun though because I know I never have to have much cash with me. The one nice thing about the big one, is they do get in a lot of bigger cut offs of mild steel and sell those cheaper than the steel yard I sometimes use for actual stock. Guess its all a balancing act to make it the most cost effective.
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