Hello everyone!

I recently picked up some scrap from an old vehicle and found a piece whose cylinder looks very much like stainless steel.
Do you know what steel it is? Can it be forged or is it dangerous?
 

Greetings X,

         That would be a steering shaf from I would guess a piece of farm equipment. I don't think it is automtive because the pinion would have been in a lube atmosphere. Nope not stainless. I would spark test it for some idea of carbon content. More than likely lower content carbon. I hope this helps. 

Forge on and make beautiful things 

Jim

Jim Coke, you guessed right!

I did the spark test on the piece and there was a lot of sparks with a fair amount of splits.
Thanks to your help, I believe that it would be between low carbon to medium carbon steel.

I am happy with the result because I would rather work with simple steels as I am a beginner.

 

It will still be pretty hard to work, it is a large lump of metal!

Looks like there's chrome on it.