Hey everyone,

Today I picked up a bunch of steel. Plate of various thickness and width, mild steel stock for making things, some other odds and ends.

All for $90.

Mostly, I got a crate full of round stock. A lot of it.

I did a spark test, and it looks like high carbon steel to me but I figured I'd would post here to get more eyes on it.

What do you think?

Judging by the spark test chart available online (that I use to "guess") it looks more like medium carbon steel with the long streamers and the flares at the ends. 

Some of those rod drop offs look much less rusty than others. Did you check them with a magnet for stainless?

I'm going to say Each piece needs spark tested and it would be best to write your finds on each. We dont know where they came from and each piece may be different. 

Ah, the joys of scrap steel... at times I'll use different colored spray paint to indicate higher, medium or Low carbon vs. Whatever else so I can see it easier to organize or grab a piece faster when I need it. 

I would try cutting test coupons from each and doing progressively faster quenches and then checking with a file for hardness and doing a break test. Spark testing is something that takes time to really get good at in my opinion. Too many variables like what the grinding wheel is made from etc. 

Pnut

What country is this steel in?  We talking of possibly EN55 or 5160?  My best advice is to build a set of *known* steel samples and then compare the spark test between the unknown one till you find the closest match.  To start with: (american system) 1020, A-36, 4340, 5160, 1080, O-1, W2...also real wrought iron, cast iron, HSS, etc.