May 26, 20188 yr The college where I work has a small letterpress run as a joint venture by the library and the art department, and the fellow who runs it just gave me this coffee can full of typemetal offcuts. It came in just under 20 pounds. (Although it looks like I missed out on the “buckets and buckets” of worn-out type that they got rid of a few years ago. Ah, well.)
May 26, 20188 yr I am reliably informed that they should have another can-full accumulated in a year or two.
May 26, 20188 yr No worries. The Special Collections Librarian who oversees the presss is fascinated with my blacksmithing, so I doubt he’ll forget. This is the same guy who showed me the antique African bellows set a few years ago.
May 26, 20188 yr 1 hour ago, JHCC said: typemetal offcuts Probably linotype or monotype pretty hard for lead alloy. Usually used in casting bullets.
May 28, 20188 yr Exercising due diligence I visited the scrapyard Saturday; nothing I needed in particular; but I try to go at least once a month... Anyway ithe visit augered well; in fact about 90 augers and most in great using condition; OUCH just looked up what a greenlee auger bit goes for new and most of these are *sharp* some shows signs of creosote so most likely RR or Electric company... Also picked up some 3/8" sq stock, a couple of punches, a cast iron tortilla press and a cast iron omelet pan, pandrol clip, a couple of horseshoes...another drafting stool from way back when. (they are GREAT for when you are doing fine work at the bench...) Augers will probably go to Quad-State after I take a representative sample. The damaged ones I keep for forging...
May 28, 20188 yr Found about 16' of 7/8" wrought iron behind the house today. My step dad tore down an old barn for a client and he saved a few of the main beams for himself. The beams were circular saw cut, but had hand cut mortise and tenon joints. He said the barn was filled with rods re-enforcing the beams. He said there were a bunch of rods up to 20' long. He cut most of the rods to free up the beams and left some of the rods in the beams he brought back home. I grabbed everything left in his beams. Unfortunately, there was probably a couple hundred feet of additional iron that was pushed into a hole and buried with the rest of the barn. He didn't know what it was at the time.
May 29, 20188 yr It didn't follow me home, but on the way to work this morning, I passed a truck with two pieces of steel on the back that were about 12" in diameter and about forty feet long. Little big for my treadle hammer, so I did not attempt to waylay the truck.
May 31, 20188 yr The industrial surplus place was having a sale, so I grabbed a nice Wilton vise, a pair of steel toes, and a box of about 60 grinding discs (originally 9”, now worn down small enough to fit in my 7” angle grinder), all for $48.60.
May 31, 20188 yr Also stopped by the college’s latest construction project to see if they had any scrap steel. When one guy looks at the other, laughs, and says “Give him that big piece of steel!”, be afraid.
May 31, 20188 yr Those are some crazy steel toe covers. You actually going to use them? Good deal for the stuff. And that a nice chunk of steel. It fits so it ships.
May 31, 20188 yr 1 minute ago, Daswulf said: Those are some crazy steel toe covers. You actually going to use them? Worth a try. There are some holes on the tops, so I’m going to experiment with attaching some leather covers. If I can wear them safely over sneakers, that will be more comfortable than heavy boots.
May 31, 20188 yr I've been thinking of making some sneaker covers/spats out of old welding gloves as college students do not seem to be able to read and comprehend the instructions to wear leather boots to class. (We are in the boonies so *everyone* has hiking shoes!)
May 31, 20188 yr 29 minutes ago, Daswulf said: It fits so it ships. They had some other stuff that they needed to check with the ironworkers to see if it was actually scrap. Getting that to fit may be a challenge, but the ~15' lengths of 3x3 angle iron sure would come in handy!
May 31, 20188 yr Can you safely wire them under your vehicle? 15' is just about front bumper to back bumper in my pickup. BTW you need to keep a tarp and some cardboard in your vehicle to protect the seats and carpeting when you run across stuff like that.
May 31, 20188 yr Lisa and I have agreed that the van is now officially no longer a people mover. The side doors don't work, and I'm considering taking out the back seats to give me some more room for straw bales and the like.
May 31, 20188 yr We still have the back seats for our *old* van in the storage shed somewhere. The new van stores them in the floor. People who really don't know my wife used to rib her about buying the CV---"Cargo Van" version. Inside the family we considered it "fitting". Of course I have a pickup and have never been without one since 1990.
May 31, 20188 yr Wish I had a pickup. I drive a Toyota Yaris hatchback for the cheap mileage but I load it with some many tools and rusty bits my work buddy calls it the "Yar-truck"
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