I'm not bothering with the scrap yards yet, I'm developing other sources.  I found a guy that will sell me all the sawmill blades I want.  I have some ideas how to use them, but they are unbelievably sharp so I will have to dull each tooth.  I got this one yesterday.  It is 32" across.  There is also a place saving gears of all sorts for me.  I will try junkyards soon.

  I was wondering how you make the pictures you post appear smaller on the screen?  Not the file size, but the actual picture appears smaller, not hogging up the whole screen?

Here's a wider angle shot for scale:

And a close-up of the head:

1 hour ago, Nodebt said:

I was wondering how you make the pictures you post appear smaller on the screen?  Not the file size, but the actual picture appears smaller, not hogging up the whole screen?

Create your comment and save it. Then click "Edit" in the upper right hand corner of the comment. Doubleclick on the photo you want to resize; this will open a window with some info about the image. In the "Size" section, you can now change the size of the photo as it displays; I usually go with 500 pixels on the large dimension. Click UPDATE and then save your changes to the comment. This will NOT resize the file, and the larger version is still visible if you click on the photo itself.

  That's better.  Thank you very much!  That's a cool sculpture.  It kind of makes me want to start painting mine.  I know I've seen that circular part in the center of it's "face" before.  I just know it.  It's going to bug me now.

My local scrapyard told me that they are buying a baler for steel and would be trying to reduce the pile soon.  Last time they did that I found a mint condition stake plate, retail US$900+  Scrapyard, under $9!  I told them that as I would be retired I might have to come out with a camping chair and a lunch and watch for good stuff that has been buried!

  Bring along a pair of binoculars for the smaller stuff.    Of course, a bale of steel would make a great yard art conversation piece. 

  I went to haggle some more on a broken rail car wheel today, but they threw it in the scrap hopper.  I didn't strike while the iron was hot I guess....

My grandfather probably brought this saw blade home from the mill he worked at in the early 1950's.

I hung it from a nail a couple years ago.

 

17 hours ago, Nodebt said:

but they threw it in the scrap hopper. 

I've offered more than scrap price for things before but they still preferred to scrap em. Tho that is pretty rare. 

That is a big blade or a small clock Lary. Hope it is a beefy nail. Don't want that thing crashing down. 

  Shop decor!  

Nice shop decoration Lary, I like it. I'm surprised you didn't cut a slot in the skull and slip it over the bade a ways. That's just me though.

An easy way to blunt salvaged saw blades is dragging them through gravel. Sure touching each tooth briefly with a disk grinder is probably faster but you can drag a stack of blades behind the old pickup and it only takes a few seconds. Maybe turn the stack 180 once but it's effective and pretty easy.

Frosty The Lucky.

On 2/19/2022 at 6:42 AM, Nodebt said:

so I will have to dull each tooth

I’ll tell you how id do it, 

id give Max my toddler a small ball pein and show him it makes noise when he hits something! 

5 minutes tops! he would turn a blade into a bowl an have the teeth dulled lol, 

Yesterday he got hold of one of my hammers and went to town on one of my metal piles, I think they could probably here the clanking, banging, ringing, dinging and donging a mile away lol, 

he was putting dents in 3/8” walled pipe…. Cold! Lol

  Max sounds like a chip off the old block!  They say the apple doesn't fall far from the tree...  Sounds like you have a future shop helper in the making.... Lol.

  

15 hours ago, Frosty said:

An easy way to blunt salvaged saw blades is dragging them through gravel.

  This one is carbide tipped.  I wonder if that would work.  Maybe dragging it would knock the tips off.  It's the first one I got that had tips on the teeth so idk.

On 2/19/2022 at 4:28 PM, Nodebt said:

Of course, a bale of steel would make a great yard art conversation piece. 

I remember seeing something in a magazine about 35-40 years ago about someone who bought a brand-new Porsche 911, had it crushed into a cube, and put it in their living room with a glass top, to serve as their coffee table. Talk about your conspicuous consumption.

However, a hay bale made from forged sheet steel could be interesting....

Daswulf,  Good point I think my bade is a little smaller than Nodebt's.

Frosty, The skull was my first attempt with a plasma cutter. I stuck a round magnet on the blade to hang it.

A circle of metal filings will sometimes form on its forehead. 

Scott, carbide tips are soldered or brazed on. A torch to heat them up and they might bump right off. 

Lary you could get some magnets set right and give him a metal filings mohawk 

3 hours ago, Nodebt said:

Sounds like you have a future shop helper in the making.... Lol.

Shop helper?!?! He’s probably gonna take over an run me out lol,

11 minutes ago, Daswulf said:

 

Lary you could get some magnets set right and give him a metal filings mohawk 

I'm gonna do it!  I'll post a pic in a couple of months.

10 minutes ago, TWISTEDWILLOW said:

Shop helper?!?! He’s probably gonna take over an run me out lol,

When you talk about your son I keep thinking of Flintstones Bamm-Bamm. You might be wright. Soon, you'll get reduced in rank to striker.

Lol that sounds about right,

he’s to young right now but I’ve got some stuff I’ve been putting aside for him,

So if he shows interest in a few years then He will have his own complete set up to start learning with, 

Only thing I’m missing is a little short post vise,

I’ve came across two over the last year but the people wouldn’t part with them

So many postvises have had the leg truncated it shouldn't be much of a problem finding one.  Toddler that was the age I gave my youngest daughter a small French pattern crosspeen to go with the small shop class anvil that was a birth gift from some friends.  Got her initial on the end of the handle too.  I have found 2 and 4 oz Stanley ball peens and a roll of no lead plumbing solder, (no flux core!)  made a starter hammering kit too.  Get young kids started learning "How to dent metal" and then when they turn driving age, teach them "How NOT to dent metal!"

You know oddly enough all the post vises I find around here still have the whole leg right down to the acorn,

but I get what your sayin, that would work to! 

The two small post vises I came across were 3”-4” jaws and maybe weighed 20 pounds and were pretty short, maybe 30” tall?  but one guy inherited it and wouldn’t sell, the other guy uses his an wasn’t interested in selling either, 

Ive got plenty of full sized ones and one big 140 pound 6-1/2” jawed Trenton post vise, so I’m getting to the point I’m passing over most post vises now unless I’m buying for someone else,

but I would like to find a couple little ones, one for max and one for a portable kit,

I had to draw the line back in Ohio when a 4" postvise was *commonly* found for US$20-25.  I tended to upgrade larger too until I found that it was nice to have both large and small ones on the work bench---small ones a lot easier to close with your knee working the handle and the smaller jaw fits inside more curves.  So I said "I will only own 10" and pass on any more that I find good and cheap.  Worked for me, I do have a very small 3.5" postvise but it is very old and "frail".  Frank Turley told me he judged it as being "pre 1800"  not one for kids or shop monkeys! (Bought it for US$20 at Quad-State the same year I bought a 6" for US$50...)

7 hours ago, JHCC said:

However, a hay bale made from forged sheet steel could be interesting....

  How about a hay bale made from barbed and baling wire.  Personally, I would add a couple of metal hands and feet sticking out of it for dramatic effect. 

  A crushed Porsche 911 would leave a hole in my living room floor.  I bet they reinforced theirs.  Have to keep up with the Joneses you know....

  

21 hours ago, Daswulf said:

Scott, carbide tips are soldered or brazed on. A torch to heat them up and they might bump right off. 

  Aric, I forgot that fact, I was going to grind or drag them off but that worked like a charm. Sometimes I need a nudge in the right direction.  

And there is a market for used carbide!

No problem Scott.  Toss em in a bucket till you have enough to scrap. 

  Will do.  The tips were sharp and the blade looked in good shape.  I wonder now if he stole it from work. He's sold me regular old blades before though.  I wonder where he gets them.