Davishomesteadandforge Posted April 28, 2018 Share Posted April 28, 2018 Hey I have a ton of scrap from a trailer home frame. I figured it'd be crappy hotdog steel bit it seems to have a pretty good carbon content. Any ideas what sort of steel it may be? It definitely sparks well and it's not galvanised. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles R. Stevens Posted April 28, 2018 Share Posted April 28, 2018 Your guess is as good as mine, heat a epic and quench it and see have hard it gets. There is information in the knife section on testing mystery steel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davishomesteadandforge Posted April 28, 2018 Author Share Posted April 28, 2018 I tried making a hot cut hardee tool and it got hard enough to skate a file so I'm guessing I got lucky with the bit I was working or it's atleast 1095. If I get a chance I'll try another one soon. Thanks for the heads up I'll check it out Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daswulf Posted April 28, 2018 Share Posted April 28, 2018 If it Is like rebar and hotdog metal the one piece you tried might have been hardenable while other sections might not. You may need to just test and or gamble with each piece. If it is consistent through many pieces or lengths you may be good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluesman7 Posted April 28, 2018 Share Posted April 28, 2018 It is probably high strength low alloy structural steel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Sells Posted April 28, 2018 Share Posted April 28, 2018 i would bet it is NOT 1095 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will W. Posted April 28, 2018 Share Posted April 28, 2018 (edited) I agree with Steve. Seems unlikely they would use such a high carbon steel in a trailer frame. They usually build trailers to minimum specs with cost and turnaround being #1 priority (in their minds.) Anyway, the mystery steel game is afoot. Same rules apply that always apply. If you got a piece to harden up pretty well then you have at least decent steel to work with. Edited April 28, 2018 by Will W. Typo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted April 28, 2018 Share Posted April 28, 2018 People often confuse high carbon as being "better" steel---however it all depends on what you are trying to do with it! As higher carbon content is generally correlated with increased brittleness it tends NOT to be used in structural items where fracture can lead to fatalities. Medium carbon steel may be used and can be hardened in test with a severe enough quench. When you spark tested it---did it spark the same as a file? Test both one after the other to compare! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SmoothBore Posted April 29, 2018 Share Posted April 29, 2018 23 hours ago, ThomasPowers said: People often confuse high carbon as being "better" steel---however it all depends on what you are trying to do with it! DO with it ! ? The ONLY thing you can ever DO with a chunk of scrap iron, ... is make a big ole honkin' BLADE ! That nobody will actually use, ... for anything ... ever. . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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