Is this good steel? For anvil substitute / to source from

[Generator]

Hi all,

Came across some of these pieces. 

Anyone knows what they are and if they are worth using? I'm trying to setup basic shop and thought of using a cut off as an anvil substitute partly buried in the ground, and maybe also as source steel for some of my first blades as I don't want to ruin good steel.

link removed

 

Follow up question - I can get some free pieces of rebar (building for concrete reinforcement) is that usable at all? I see different opinions online.

 

[Frosty]

Welcome aboard Generator, glad to have you. If you put your general location in the header you'll have a much better chance of meeting up with members living within visiting distance. 

Sure those are all useful structural steel shapes. You could use some to build an anvil stand, benches, shelves, etc. general steel fabrication jobs. Buried part way in the ground as an anvil is pretty worthless waste of money, time and steel.

Rebar is excellent steel in concrete where it's designed to perform. There are a few forged products it works well for, at one time we spiked log cabin walls with rebar, it makes excellent ground stakes too. However as general forge stock it leaves a LOT to be desired. Forging the texture off rebar to make a presentable product makes a whole LOT of extra work.

Rebar is manufactured to a performance specification, meaning that as long as it's tensile and modular strength meets specs nobody much cares what is in it. This tends to mean rebar is inconsistent, sometimes quite a bit in the same stick. 

Just because SOME GUY on the internet says he does a thing doesn't mean he does or what his work is worth. 

And PLEASE include me in that last bit of advice, you don't know me from Adam. 

Frosty The Lucky.

[George N. M.]

Welcome aboard from 7500' in SE Wyoming.  Glad to have you.

I agree with everything Frosty said.  Rebar is generally a poor source of steel for forging because of its random consistency.  Sometimes it will vary a lot over a short distance along its length.  There are a few things that it is suitable for such as tent pegs but that is about it.  Older, salvaged rebar is usually more consistent, modern stuff, not so much.

Ancient smiths used ground anvils and fires but it is pretty hard on your knees and back, even for a young person.  It is not too hard to build a stand even for an improvised anvil.  Then you can do all your work standing up.

There are some good blacksmithing videos on You Tube but until you have a feel for the credibility of an individual you need to be pretty skeptical.  The same for comments on forums.  Some people know their stuff but some are better at posting than they are at metal working,  The channels I like are Black Bear Forge, JPL Services (our own Jennifer), Torbjorn Ahman, and Christ Centered Ironworks.  There are others but I, personally, like those.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

Welcome from the Ozark mountains. I see your link was removed because commercial links and links to sites that violate the forum rules (language, politics, religion etc) are not allowed. If you can post pictures or just give the name of the site that you posted, those are allowed.

[Bantou]

Welcome from Central Texas. I’m going to disagree with Frosty and George a little on the rebar. It isn’t something I would ever use for a product I was going to sell (unless you are going for the post apocalyptic look). However, if you can get it cheap enough (read free or nearly so), it has seemed to be ok for experimentation in my experience. It does seem to be harder to move than A36 though. 

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

For some things you will take a ribbing for making some stuff from rebar. I made a replica Civil war artillery brush cutter (machete) and the D-guard was from rebar. It worked OK but the discussion took a right turn about the availability of rebar in that time period.

[Charles R. Stevens]

Their is rebar and then their is rebar. Some rebar such as bridge and sky rise bar may well be consistent known steel. Wile the stuff from the big box store is mystery metal and may very in consistency with in the same stick. A-36 is almost as bad, as it to is made to an engorging spec, not a metelergical one don’t believe me just bend over 2” of the stuff and forge weld it, cut off and repeat. Steve and I found a spot that even he couldn’t weld. 
now all that said, mystery metal rules apply. Forge some and see if it air quenches, oil quenches, water quenches etc. will it forge weld with out extraordinary mesures?  The stuff I get from the box store will air quench, so didn’t make good forged stakes but makes good quick and dirty chisels and punches. Wile some I have in my stash is actually D2 

so just be aware that rebar and to a lesser extent A36 are mystery steels and add to the learning curve. 

 

[BillyBones]

Ah the old rebar argument. This is what i have discovered about rebar, some people like to use it, some dont. Me, i am on the dont like to use side. I do have a few pieces that i use mostly to weld a handle on to something else i am working but that is about it. 

Anyway with out going into the pros and cons of using rebar the short answer is yes you can forge it. So try it and see if you personally like using it. If so great if not great. Just a matter of preference. 

Free stock is great. However keep in mind time is money. Say you need a piece of smooth 1/2" round and it takes 2 hours to get the ribs off the rebar. If you set your labor rate at say $20 an hour that would cost $40 just to knock the ribs off. It would be cheaper to just have run up to the box store and bought that piece of 1/2" round.  And even if you are not going to be selling anything what else could you have done with those 2 hours? Need to mow the grass? Clean out the garage? Fix a leaky faucet? Or just spend time with the family. So if it is spare time you are using it is limited and being so should be used wisely. 

[Charles R. Stevens]

The skills learned have value as well, lol. The funny thing is the same person scooting the use of A36 will bad mouth the use of rebar. I personally treat it all as found steel. 
now on the subject of anvils, not a fan of I beam, you need something thicker. If nothing else use a sledge hammer head. For Thousands of years anvils where just solid chunks of iron 5-10# with 1-1/2-2# hammers. 

lit has been said before that earth movers are just a pile of anvils bolted together…
 

[Generator]

Hi all, thanks for the replies.

The steel I came through is similar to this:

Some kind of structure beams I think.

I'm from the middle east, every small piece of steel is very expensive here. Not to mention can be hard to aquire.

At the moment I simply work with what I can get. Made some blades from old files and rusty old saws. But that's it, didn't even had to use a forge as the steel was already hardened.

[Charles R. Stevens]

Sledgehammer heads, trolly and train rail drops, large drops from machine shops, scrap from tractor and earth mover repaire shops, bent fork lift tines.  And other scrap

Large solid chunks of steel (8-10 pound sledge hammer head will get you started)

[Scott NC]

  I used a draft gear from a railcar as an anvil surface for a while.  The yoke was useful to.  The coupler came with it but I used it for something else.

[ThomasPowers]

To make a good anvil you need solid steel from the top to the bottom.  Most of that is air and so is loud, bouncy and NOT a good anvil substitute.

So what can you find that is?  Bull dozer parts, massive chunks of army tanks, broken knuckles off railroad couplers, scrapped dies from metal stamping machines.  Not knowing where you are at makes it harder to suggest what you might be able to find.

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

On 6/20/2022 at 1:27 PM, Generator said:

I'm from the middle east

We won't remember this once leaving this post, hence the suggestion to edit your profile to add location. That way it will appear with every post. There is a member here from Israel and he makes some very good anvils by welding plate together with full penetration welds.

[Scott NC]

  You are correct, but it's what I had at the time that I was just starting out.  I worked at a railcar repair shop and it was given to me.  I wasn't recommending it, actually.  I should have elaborated what a lousy anvil it made. Lost track of the spirit of the thread.