Iron Fangs Posted November 6, 2021 Author Share Posted November 6, 2021 Trust me, my enthusiasm was not curbed in the slightest, I'm only excited for more and still looking forward to continued advice, resources, and eventually, suggestions on how to improve my budding projects! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Purple Bullet Posted November 6, 2021 Share Posted November 6, 2021 27 minutes ago, Frosty said: It's also a good place to kill time. You'd think with all the attempts at it, that sucker would be dead already! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted November 6, 2021 Share Posted November 6, 2021 Budding projects eh, you like gardening too? Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iron Fangs Posted November 6, 2021 Author Share Posted November 6, 2021 Actually yes, in fact this upcoming summer I plan to plant bottle gourds with the intention of drying and then waxing them to make canteens Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daswulf Posted November 6, 2021 Share Posted November 6, 2021 I love gardening as well. I'm not good at it. I got the metal thumb from my family, not their green thumb but I have successes in many failures. Speaking of budding, i have more roses sold if I just get time to make them. And i have way too many budding ideas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Purple Bullet Posted November 6, 2021 Share Posted November 6, 2021 My suckers tend to die, that's why I like steel roses too. Hey! I need to plant herbs. Then I can REALLY kill thyme. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted November 6, 2021 Share Posted November 6, 2021 WOW, that's a dilly of a pun! Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott NC Posted November 6, 2021 Share Posted November 6, 2021 Said the sage of puns! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iron Fangs Posted November 6, 2021 Author Share Posted November 6, 2021 Haha, Sage, another herb, great on chicken... Anyway has anyone here ever salvaged forgable iron from an old gas mower before? Found one under my house and am wondering if I should sell it as is or gut it for workable material Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daswulf Posted November 6, 2021 Share Posted November 6, 2021 Push mowers arnt really worth the effort for forgable material. "Maybe" the crank shaft. And that is a big maybe. I use some pieces for scrap art but mostly they are a bust on forgable material. I have seen some people use the mower deck flipped upside down as a forge table. Typically i would say scrap it and use the money for better stock. I have a bunch of em lined up for the scrapyard if I dont get around to pulling the pistons and a few other pieces for scrap art. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluerooster Posted November 6, 2021 Share Posted November 6, 2021 Lawnmower blades are forgable stock, they work great for flat stock items like gate hinges, and such. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iron Fangs Posted November 6, 2021 Author Share Posted November 6, 2021 Honestly I paid nothing for it, came with the house, so if I can get a potential forge table, the blades as stock, and whatever the crankshaft is good for that is still pretty cool Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted November 6, 2021 Share Posted November 6, 2021 Is that anice thing to say Scott? If I ever get another chicken I'm naming her Herb. I don't know how free that mower was Iron Fang, you had to pay for the house didn't you? About free steel, some costs more to use than buying new. A mower blade might make a good blade but you don't know what it is specifically so you don't know what: heat treat temps, quenchants, temper colors, cycles and such it requires. Learning to evaluate scrounged steel is a skill set in itself. Dedicate a few inches of the blade for test coupons to determine what it needs to make as good a blade as it will. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daswulf Posted November 6, 2021 Share Posted November 6, 2021 Lol, I did forget the blade... there is that too. Frosty pretty much nailed it responding before I did. Not all lawnmower blades are hard in the knife sense. I see more bending almost a full 90° in some cases before breaking. That doesn't sound like a real good knife material. Like frosty mentioned tho, testing a piece will tell you more on an individual blade. No saying what one manufacturer uses vs. Another. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iron Fangs Posted November 6, 2021 Author Share Posted November 6, 2021 A good point, any good sources on how to figure out how to do so? I've heard about hardness, chip, and spark tests, but wikihow probably isn't the best source (or at least in completeness) of info for this... at the foundry they used a metal spectrometer that would break down the complete alloy composition into percentages, however that took up an entire office space and I am not about to shell out the multiple thousands of $$$ to take up that kind of space in my house lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chad J. Posted November 7, 2021 Share Posted November 7, 2021 (edited) Iron Fangs,The short version; run it through your normal heat treat minus the tempering. Lock it in your vice and hit it with your hammer. If it snaps it's got some carbon, if it bends make a bottle opener with it. There are several threads in the heat treat area that go over this in much more detail, mine is the over simplified version. Oh, wear eye protection. The pieces go flying at extreme speeds. Edited November 7, 2021 by Chad J. Posted in the wrong thread Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted November 7, 2021 Share Posted November 7, 2021 Cut a narrow strip of blade, 1/2"-3/4" is fine. Heat it to non-magnetic and quench oil. If it shatters in the quench it's probably air hardening. Cut another and let it air cool from non-magnetic (NM) if it survives a couple quick tests are scratch or file if a file skates it hardened. Shine it up with sand paper, etc. Heat one end to blue and chill it in water. This will NOT harden it but it will stop the temper from running. Next clamp it in the vise with ONLY the blue sticking out, cover it with a rag (scatter shield in case it shatters) and give it a rap with a hammer. If it bends, Good. Next clamp it with the purple in the jaws and repeat. Precede until you get to the point it starts snapping. KEEP NOTES, pictures don't hurt. One pic of a "tempered" test coupon and you can mark the color and test result exactly where you tested. Yes? If an oil quench bends, try a water quench on the next one if that doesn't break try brine. If that doesn't break it's not hardening enough to make a decent blade. Might be perfect for garden tools though. There are better descriptions of the process by pro bladesmiths in the heat treat section but the above is the basic idea. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iron Fangs Posted November 7, 2021 Author Share Posted November 7, 2021 My lack of understanding of that description is telling me that I need to take a nice long look at the heat treating and tempering section of the forum lol, I'll be searching thst later today On another note, what is a good way to use rusted nails, bolts, and hinges? Can those be forged together into something or does it depend on how rusted they are? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chad J. Posted November 7, 2021 Share Posted November 7, 2021 The limit is your imagination. I've never tried rusty nails because there isn't much metal to them, but I think it's George that makes baskets from barbed wire so go for it. Bolts have a little more mass but pay attention to the coatings. Galvanizing is not a good thing to throw in the forge as the zinc burns off and is hazardous. If you're not sure, it forms a yellow crusty powder on the iron. Hinges may be a great place to start, but I have the same words of caution as for bolts, watch the coatings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iron Fangs Posted November 8, 2021 Author Share Posted November 8, 2021 For the nails would it be correct to assume I would start by heating them on the forge and hammering them together? (I think I am referring to forge welding please correct me if I am wrong) then work the larger piece of material that would create? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daswulf Posted November 8, 2021 Share Posted November 8, 2021 TechnicusJoe (Joey van der Steeg) had a video where he forge welded a bunch of nails together into a solid bar. I believe he was demonstrating the use of a bottom V swage in consolidating the stock. I can't find it at the moment. He might have cleaned up his youtube videos and it might not be there any more, or I just can't find it. Yeah, you are thinking about forge welding. It can be done. But it isn't very practical unless there is really a purpose to doing it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iron Fangs Posted November 8, 2021 Author Share Posted November 8, 2021 I'll hold onto the nails, maybe I'll use them to practice forge welding rather than ruining good stock, practice is never a waste right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daswulf Posted November 8, 2021 Share Posted November 8, 2021 Can't hurt to hang on to them for a while if they aren't in the way. I think we all ruin good stock at some point or another. It's just the learning process. Sometimes a brief lapse in judgment or attention could ruin hours worth of work as well lol. Typically you'll want to practice what you're actually wanting to do. Practicing driving a boat is a little different than practicing driving a race car. Both are driving, just in different styles and conditions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted November 8, 2021 Share Posted November 8, 2021 On 11/6/2021 at 7:17 PM, Iron Fangs said: at the foundry they used a metal spectrometer that would break down the complete alloy composition into percentages If you know anyone with an XRF (X-Ray Fluorescence) machine who's willing to test the occasional piece for you, that can be a great way to identify mystery steels. (Sadly, the junkyard that occasionally tested stuff for me was sold, and the new owners stripped the place down to the ground.) On 11/6/2021 at 2:09 PM, Purple Bullet said: My suckers tend to die Fortunately, there's one born every minute! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted November 8, 2021 Share Posted November 8, 2021 Nails: Pistils and Stamens for larger forged flowers, rivets---nails tend to be mild steel. Concrete form nails: hammer them flat for "swords" or use them for a spike in a large candle holder---cut off the top head, thread through the candle cup and support and rivet it together. Then cut the "spike" to size and shape----or do that first and then rivet. Both works. Junkyard steel: please remember that the NEXT "identical" piece you source could be a different alloy. You need to test every one *before* you put all the effort in and find out they switched to a boron alloy for lawn mower blades instead of the HC one you last found. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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