12 hours ago, JHCC said:

Washing soda and baking soda are both basic. If you’re using either as an electrolyte and you want to neutralize it, you’ll need a vinegar rinse. 

Washing & Baking soda are the same thing (nearly).  Sodium Carbonate vs Sodium Bi Carbonate.  You can put baking soda in a shallow pan in the oven on 250 - 300 for about 45 minutes (stirring every 10 minutes or so) to drive off the moisture.  This will convert Baking to Washing Soda.

I agree about neutralizing the soda.

Had some luck on the tool steel front:

4140 pieces on the left, some power hammer tooling-to-be (middle to right) and a total flat ring of bearing steel (middle top):  

Some pieces of 1045 / C45, 30x40mm around 400 long. (1 3/16 x 1 1/2", ~ 1,3 feet long). On the top a piece of 3/4 square of the same stuff.

And the best of all: 30 kg /65 lbs of hot working tool steel 1.2714 (something like AISI L6) with the old Hungarian sign NK and NK2, and a smaller piece of 1.4122 (x39CrMo17-1) martensitic corrosion resistant and slightly heat resistant tool steel.

All came in for scrap price from a scrap yard. 

Already tried the L6 and it seems to work quite ok

:

Was a bit tricky to forge and heat treat but did not explode when used it

Bests:

Gergely

The tool rental counter at the local big-box hardware store gave me seven worn-out jackhammer bits for a buck each.

(Size 13 boot for scale)

The way i see it, John, youve got 3 swords and 4 chisels right there. 

Considering I’ve made fewer than half a dozen knives, I’m nowhere near thinking about swords! I’m thinking hardy tools and hammers for the big ones, and chisels and punches for the little. 

Addendum: also picked up a stack of back issues of the “Blacksmith’s Gazette” and some heat-resistant all-wool gloves from @Stitch, whom I finally got to meet this afternoon. 

Headed to turn in a bill for pressure washing a cedar fence the last two days (temps in the 50-55F range) when my wife and I spot something in the road. I was 15 feet away and I recognize the logo. I need new glasses but colors and shapes ring bells in my head and I can tell some things from a distance. 

Tiger brand blower, home made forge out of a 45 gal drum. The seller threw in a small 4" vice and a couple pairs of tongs. All of which need some TLC .

Went garage saleing after work and picked up some goodies, but I have a question about one of them. I picked up a single plow that would be drug by a beastly critter. It was a lawn ornament obviously from the rust. My question is, what other uses would the old plow blade be good for, any idea on the alloy(s) used? The share is almost gone, and I may strip it off and use the beam for something else. 

 

Got picture BigGun?

 

Naw, I have a dumb phone, and I need a new cable for my tablet. It looks like a standard horse drawn plow minus the rear handles. It looks very similar to this one I found on the net.

 

Plow blades can be any of a bunch of things depending on age location, etc  Cast iron and high carbon steel are possibilities at the ends of the range,

you might like the John Deere story at: https://www.deere.com/en/our-company/history/john-deere-plow/    the first line goes "In 1837 our founder, John Deere, was a typical blacksmith turning out hayforks, horseshoes, and other essentials for life on the prairie."

Also looking through the 1897 or 1908 Sears Roebuck catalog and reading their descriptions of the plows might be useful.

I personally would leave that one on, and just pick up a plow share up at the scrap yard. quite common find, at least here. Once the plow loses its share the price drops a good bit, I would just resale that to some one who wants to stick it in there lard and pay big bucks for it, then take a few of those dollars and buy a used plow share.

                                                                                                                                  Littleblacksmith 

Friday, I stopped by the scrap yard and picked up a couple of scrapped welding cylinders and some miscellaneous steel. (Note: NOT ACETYLENE CYLINDERS! as they cannot be made safe by any safe at home process!)  Also a bunch of US Surplus tent stakes, a few tools for reuse. etc.   My idea of a fun Black Friday shopping trip!

Thomas, about the acetylene cylinders, why is that?

There is a big porous block in the acetylene tanks that can't easily be rendered safe would be my number one but Thomas may know something more. 

I ask because I just got the valve off one the other night and funny you mention that porous block. It seemed to be filled with something like that and I decided to hold off doing anything with it. Curious to know more. 

 

old ones were filled with asbestos and the new ones with a diatomaceous earth suffused with acetone that the acetylene was dissolved in. Acetylene has an earnest desire to go boom. Messing with any possible leftovers is not suggested!  (Acetylene can have an Exothermic Dissociation even without the presence of oxygen---get the pressure too high, boom, run over the line with a forklift, boom, have too much free space in the tank, boom---which is why dented tanks are trashed immediately!....)

Welp, just like the people that are brave enough to weld on a gas tank ( even attempting it "safely")  I am NOT that guy. I just buy a new tank. 

Looks like the risks outweigh the reward and I'll be ditching the tank. Thanks Thomas. 

The porous rock in acetylene tanks is flooded with acetone when they charge the tank with acetylene it dissolves in the acetone this stabilizes it under pressure otherwise one bump and the tank would go up like tnt. 

 

That is why if you exceed the flow rate allowable of acetylene from a given tank size it can cause a explosive situation as some of yhe acitone can leak out then there wont be enough to stabilize the cylinder

 

enjoy

My comfort level goes to zero with stuff that explodes even in an oxygen free environment.  Good call!

There's a welding supply place near my son's school where I was planning to stop in and ask about decommissioned tanks. Now I know not to ask for the acetylene ones. Thank you!

Learn something new everyday. 

Ask where they get hydrotesting done as that is probably where you need to go.  Of course I bought 2 tanks at my local scrapyard Friday, with a hole drilled in them. Much more expensive at 20 cents a pound than getting them free; but  they pretty much pay for themselves when cut up: Bells, forge bodies, dishing forms...and I sell the valves back to the scrapyard as nonferrous...

13 hours ago, ThomasPowers said:

old ones were filled with asbestos

I have read that some tanks even used balsa wood.

B.t.w. this porous block and the acetone is also the reason to transport and use acetylene cylinders always in a vertical position and never lay down.