October 10, 20178 yr Question, this followed me home, does anyone know what it is? It was about two dollars. I thought and was told it was a stone or concrete chisel but I have been looking through pictures of various types of chisels and haven't seen anything like this. Any idea what type of steel it could be? From what I gather, there are only two or so common tool steels I just don't know which it may be. Knowing what it is in the first place should help.
October 10, 20178 yr Rock drill. Hit with a hammer, twist, hit , twist , hit........ More than likely a medium carbon steel to be tough without being brittle.
October 10, 20178 yr Also known as a star drill. BTW I can name over a dozen tool steels off the top of my head and know of many many more... (Like W1, W2, O1, H-13, S-7, S-1, 4340, 1050, 5160, 1095, 1084, 4140, ...I've forged all of these before + D2, 440C, A2, Ti CP 1&2, Ag--fine and 925, copper, bronze, Al....
October 10, 20178 yr And that is why I don't trust the internet Thomas, I am looking for some reference books. Thanks for the help. I knew it had something to do with rocks.
October 10, 20178 yr On 10/7/2017 at 11:07 PM, MG-42 said: I am currently working on a Hugh McDonald hot meta l roller. With that said my neighbor gave me this today. That is awesome.
October 10, 20178 yr On 10/5/2017 at 3:19 AM, dagr8tim said: Could you use say a 220 tombstone welder as your power supply for something like that? NO. The wall outlet might have enough wattage though. I think everybody thinks of modifying a welder to make an induction heater, I sure did I have a Ranger portable in the shop that has high frequency AC capabilities for TIG welding and 9kw to back it. I could buy a 50 amp 240v single phase induction welder and plug it in the Ranger's 240v outlet though. That's about it for using a welder as power for induction heating. A Tombstone isn't even close. Frosty The Lucky.
October 11, 20178 yr The induction heaters we had at work were 30Kw , but it is the Hz that does the heating. We ran in the KHz ranges. The smaller the part the more Hz needed. Some units run in the GHz range.
October 11, 20178 yr Think I can use the star drills for anything, aside from boring holes in rock? I ask as they are prevalent, cheap, and in varying sizes. I have a bunch lying around. Im thinking they could be nice knives. Hoewever, if it is tool steel i don't know if it can do anything longer than a knife without shattering, such as a foot, foot and a half chopper. This is down the road, I have a skillet and oodels of s hooks to make first.
October 11, 20178 yr Punches and chisels can be turned into..........punches and chisels! But with different ends suited for specific tasks. You already know that is a suitable steel to use, and don't need to waste time and energy on worthless mystery metal, only to end up with scrap. A coffee can full of decorative punches is a wonderful thing to have available, or to sell and trade. The skills learned in making them will push you further down the path to metal mastery. If you have suitable tongs or vise grips, short punches weigh less for traveling, can be used at the anvil, as well as with power hammers or treadle hammers. One long hand star drill might make a half dozen stubby punches. Or one good hammer eye drift. If you want cheap medium carbon stock for making into decent quality blades without spending time changing round into flat first, look for carpenters pry bars at flea markets. Heck get a half dozen identical ones on sale at HF and spend a weekend on mastering one common steel.
October 11, 20178 yr Those are awesome punches. I do intend soon to make a couple stamps. I do want some wire inlay chisels. Although I wouldn't say I would be wasting my time making round into flat. I need to work on precision, patience, and even hammering which I cant think of a better way with the materials I currently have. It is also just something I feel that I need to attempt, mostly so I understand how bad of an idea it is so I never do it again. I'll use rebar though for that particular project, I know it will be awful, but just to say it was once rebar. It'll be a nice shop hanger. I do have a bunch of flea market pry bars and large files, thanks. No work today so once I finish painting I have like six things to go make.
October 11, 20178 yr I'd expect a difference between old one from the granite quarries and new ones from the big box stores. Might see if you can find an old timer who could talk about the old ones... I bought a new one to put up the wall around the perimeter of the carport when I was converting it to my wife's spinning studio. I was out here working before the move (when school ended) and so had few tools. The new one mushroomed the striking end on a regular basis. Lots of holes with about 2000 blows per hole. The builder has lived in this house and everything was done to his idea of perfection. Lets just say that the walls I installed didn't notice the 80 MPH straight line winds we had the first spring after they were up...
October 11, 20178 yr On 10/11/2017 at 5:50 AM, John McPherson said: Punches and chisels can be turned into..........punches and chisels! My vote goes for the best post of the month for this one! - Thank you John!
October 13, 20178 yr dug this up on the job site yesterday. Was hoping for some wi but no go on the hook I checked
October 14, 20178 yr Our weekly trip to the trash compactor's steel bin. Something cut off a piece of equipment made from 3/8 plate and weighs 60 lbs. Plus some misc. pieces of scrap and two pieces of 3/16 plate weighing 45 lbs. and a piece of 3/8 round stock. Not bad for the $1.00 I spend to get rid of our household trash.
October 14, 20178 yr 20 hours ago, Daswulf said: Still an awesome find. Better than just construction trash I normally dig up nice score iron dragon
October 14, 20178 yr 1 hour ago, Irondragon Forge & Clay said: Our weekly trip to the trash compactor's steel bin. Something cut off a piece of equipment made from 3/8 plate and weighs 60 lbs. Plus some misc. pieces of scrap and two pieces of 3/16 plate weighing 45 lbs. and a piece of 3/8 round stock. Not bad for the $1.00 I spend to get rid of our household trash. You have me curious now about the transfer station near me. We don't have a dump near by, instead a collection of dumpsters that eventually get hauled to the dump. They might have some goodies there. I may have to take a day off work so I can go by there and check it out.
October 14, 20178 yr That's what our compactor is, a transfer station that takes garbage, steel, tires, etc. When you go to visit them take a box of dougnuts and chat it up with the staff about doing blacksmithing. You never know if they have a steel bin (rollon dumpster) they may let you scrounge in it. If they do take something you have made as a thank you.
October 14, 20178 yr Will definitely try that. When I finally make it out there I'll report back if I find any goodies.
October 16, 20178 yr My local transfer station is right next to the scrapyard; but they still had folks dumping steel there. I was once given a bunch of old real wrought iron wagon parts that had been dumped there. (they would wait till the got a load and drive it the 200' to the scrapyard gate and sell it.)
October 19, 20178 yr Followed me home yesterday evening, a 5" leg vise in great condition. The screw looks perfect to my inexperienced eyes. It's a beast, weighting 75 pounds. I think I paid a fair price at C$165 (which means roughly US$130 at current exchange rates), particularly considering it was less than a 30 minutes drive from my home. And the guy I bought it from gave me a lead on an anvil.
October 21, 20178 yr Our weekly trip to the trash transfer station was a bust as far as stock, but someone threw a Porter Cable air compressor (which looks new) in the bin, it followed us home. It appears to work although the gauges don't register any pressure but for free what the heck and I'll tinker with it. Now for the best thanks to TPAAAT when we stopped at a big yard sale. The sale was by a friend of mine and after looking around I found a Colt Army 1917 model revolver that I would have loved to add to my collection but it was too rich for my budget. I asked Bulldog if he had any blacksmith tools or anvils and he said as a matter of fact I do and pointed to the back of his garage. Well it turned out to be a Hay-Budden 106 pound anvil in good shape (not abused) and at his asking price of $200 ($1.89 a pound) I couldn't pass it up. He threw in the jack-hammer bit and 4 ft 1 inch round bar with the deal. It is serial number A7264. I think it was made 1919-1920 range. It passed the ball bearing rebound test at 80-85% over the whole face and the ring was consistent over the whole face too. The edges are rounded by honest work but are not bad and the face is flat. I'll take some more pictures and post them in the Hay-Budden thread after I get it cleaned up a bit. Can't wait to get her mounted and shine up the face with hot steel. Then on the way home we stopped at a large Flea Market / scrap yard where we picked up a like new 6 inch K-T Industrial Tools bench grinder on a home made stand for $35, It's a 1/2 hp which runs fine, along with the wood ammo box and ball pien hammer. My wife had somewhere to go so she wouldn't let me scrounge through the scrap yard.
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