sandpile Posted June 15, 2006 Share Posted June 15, 2006 MY trades seem to go the other way. I had a really nice mare. There was a good horse here in town. Stud fee was $500.00. Kept the mare around for a year and then kept her and the colt around for another year. Sold the mare and kept the colt three more years and spent $300.00 getting him broke, plus all the time I had put into him myself. I let a 15 year old kid trade me and old swedish anvil and a trailer load of pipe and steel for him. He gave me about $600.00 worth of stuff for a $4000.00 horse. Of course, You have it figured out!! This kid is my oldest grandson. I have ten more grandkids and I could not GIVE the horse to him because of all the other kids not getting an equal amount.BOG. I still think I got a pretty good trade. I know the horse and kid did.grin. Chuck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted June 15, 2006 Share Posted June 15, 2006 Hillbillysmith---you won't notice the weight difference between steel and real wrought iron, it's not that much. However they have made Ti prybars...spark test it! Thomas Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nolano Posted June 15, 2006 Share Posted June 15, 2006 Last time i was at a hammer in, I heard about an auctioneer auctioning off a 300lb anvil. He got cocky, and said if you could carry it out to your vehicle, it was yours. So one of the guys did, but he got a hernia on the way there. Never came back for the stand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
one_rod Posted June 16, 2006 Share Posted June 16, 2006 The company that my brother runs are moving premises. He phoned me and said that there were some "old bits of steel" laying on the land at the side of the new site, and would I like them. They wanted to clear the land to use for car parking. Not expecting too much, I went over. This is what I pulled out from among the weeds and brambles. 4"x2" and 2"x2". I don't have room to store it indoors, so just brushed the worst of the rust and dirt off and painted it with oil. There is probably twice as much again still there, but it's welded together into all sorts of "interesting" shapes, too big for me to transport, so the scrap man is probably going to get it. one_rod. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meco3hp Posted June 17, 2006 Share Posted June 17, 2006 Hello, OneRod! so whats holding you up from taking a torch back and getting the rest? Nice find of structual steel! Thanks Richard Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Krstofer Posted June 17, 2006 Share Posted June 17, 2006 Lots of stuff has found it's way back with me.. Some I bought, some I took.. Some were freely given. Most I've made into things- A few I've written about here: http://krstofer.org/projects/ My welding table & computer desk are both made from 1/2" plate aluminum I picked up in a Forest Service "boneyard".. Both tops are 2' by 4'. Add some inch square thinwall for legs & wallah! Indestructable. With the change to the newer propane tank valves the old ones become un-refillable- Often free at refilling stations. Great for forges. And freon tanks? Look behind the local car shops- light weight pressure tanks for that home-brew air compressor. Or a small forge as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FredlyFX Posted June 17, 2006 Share Posted June 17, 2006 Lots of stuff has found it's way back with me.. Some I bought, some I took.. Some were freely given. Most I've made into things- A few I've written about here: http://krstofer.org/projects/ My welding table & computer desk are both made from 1/2" plate aluminum I picked up in a Forest Service "boneyard".. Both tops are 2' by 4'. Add some inch square thinwall for legs & wallah! Indestructable. With the change to the newer propane tank valves the old ones become un-refillable- Often free at refilling stations. Great for forges. And freon tanks? Look behind the local car shops- light weight pressure tanks for that home-brew air compressor. Or a small forge as well. Interesting projects Krstofer. I particularly liked the trike. How is it coming along? Did you finish it? FredlyFXhttp://fredlyfx.com PS. I work in the disabled student program at Mt. San Jacinto College training students to use adaptive hardware & software. I have a couple of students who would be kindred spirets with you. They are both quads that do all sorts of projects. I am impressed all the time by the stuff they can do with a tiny fraction of the grip you have. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
one_rod Posted June 18, 2006 Share Posted June 18, 2006 ...........so whats holding you up from taking a torch back and getting the rest? About an acre of shoulder-high weeds mostly. It's not rained here for weeks (that's something you don't get to say very often in this country), and everything is tinder dry. Setting fire to that lot would not make me very popular with anybody. They want to tractor-mow the land but need the remaining steel moved first. With the price of metal so high at the moment they will have no trouble finding a scrappie to take it away. Just have to be content with what I already have. one_rod. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted June 19, 2006 Share Posted June 19, 2006 Well I stopped by the fleamarket in Las Cruces on Father's Day; only thing I got was a large *old* Nicholson file; only reason I picked it up was it was "Warrented Cast Steel" (did I mention it had some years on it?) It will go on the cast steel pile...gotta do some more 18th and 19th century work... Thomas Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yesteryearforge Posted June 20, 2006 Share Posted June 20, 2006 My ex son in law asked me if I would like a fly press so I said how much , he said free , so I said yes, / This is what he brought me Its not a flypress but a 50 ton screw press The stain is from over oiling can't seem to post a photo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nolano Posted June 20, 2006 Share Posted June 20, 2006 yesteryear, try posting it here then linking it:http://www.imageshack.us/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rthibeau Posted June 22, 2006 Share Posted June 22, 2006 My wife wants an arbor built, so I said I had to get the metal for it - another opportunity to browse the scrap yard. I think there's an arbor in some of that sucker rod, but there is a bunch of punches, drifts, hardy tools and who knows what else; plus a tool stand in the I-beam, hooks and sign brackets in the rebar, stock stands on the brake rotors, and on and on.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strine Posted July 13, 2006 Share Posted July 13, 2006 This hasn't followed me home yet but it will when it's replaced as part of the redevelopment of the background. Another simpler gate at the rear of the property also has my name on it. I asked the site manager what will happen to the gates and sensing that they'd end up in the tip I put dibs on them. He told me yesterday that they were mine for the taking and the doing with what I liked. All I have to do now is not stuff up any surveys on the site. Moral: nothing ventured nothing gained Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J W Bennett Posted July 16, 2006 Share Posted July 16, 2006 Went for an early morning drive this morning and hit 3 spots I check on a regular basis 2 out of three produced unusually good finds. Don't know how many spikes there are but the truck squatted a tad. The tie clips were a bonus.The Brake drums are from a truck shop down the road. May have to hit the spring shop this afternoon, while luck is on my side. I drove home with an old Johnny Cash tape playing and singing to myself(The truck and the shower are the only two places I sing)LOL JWB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbb Posted July 16, 2006 Share Posted July 16, 2006 Add legs, steel balls are simplest, put stucco lath in bottom, and you have big flower pot, or container garden. I have peppers growing in my two. Rusty stuff is the hot ticket amongst the yuppie crowd here. They use metal strips, exposed for lots of landscaping. just weld cathodic protection to backside . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J W Bennett Posted July 16, 2006 Share Posted July 16, 2006 AM, Two of the drums will be grinder bases and I'm sure the other one will be a base too. I just haven't acquired the tool to mount on it yet. JWB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenn Posted July 16, 2006 Author Share Posted July 16, 2006 Look for a flywheel from a standard transmission to weld to the brake drum for additional ballast. Weld a piece of steel plate to the drum so it extends out in front for you to stand on. Both are great help in preventing tip overs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nolano Posted July 17, 2006 Share Posted July 17, 2006 This is kind of old, but can I get a close up picture of this "sucker rod"? I made a hammer out of some of that once, I think. It cracked when I oil quenched it. It would have been a great hammer, otherwise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
irnsrgn Posted July 17, 2006 Share Posted July 17, 2006 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rthibeau Posted July 17, 2006 Share Posted July 17, 2006 This is the best photo I can come up with Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nolano Posted July 17, 2006 Share Posted July 17, 2006 Alright, thanks. After looking more closely, I dont think its the same stuff. It was some wierd shaft someone brought to a hammer in for people to use. the owner wasnt sure what it was. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Pook Posted August 8, 2006 Share Posted August 8, 2006 I just found a mother load of rail spikes just need to pick them all up. Got probably 2 dozen in 5 minutes of walking The just replace a whole bunch of rail ties by the track 5 minutes from my house, only problem is they buried alot of them in the dirt the piled up diggin the holes to slide the new ones in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blacksmith Jim Posted August 8, 2006 Share Posted August 8, 2006 Someone brought in a bucket of spikes to the shop I hang out in. The guy who runs the place told anyone to take any that they want I don't think he has a use for 40+ railroad spikes.. It seems like railroad spikes would make good pieces to start with for making hardie tools... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Pook Posted August 8, 2006 Share Posted August 8, 2006 not really sure what I'll do with mine... I was thinking of using them for hooks to hang stuff on in the new shop, instead of the old round bar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian C. Posted August 8, 2006 Share Posted August 8, 2006 RR spikes make good crosses. Use one for the upright, 1.5 inches + the heads of two others for the cross members. I mig them then dress the welds, wrap the joints with copper wire to resemble lashings. Then JB Weld the whole thing into a stone. Folks seem to like them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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