Alternative sources of cast iron

[Heezea]

Hey guys, the price of cast iron is so high. Do any of you know of any alternative sources of cast iron? I saw somebody recommended speedymetals.com and their prices are definitely better than most but still seem very high.

I was thinking maybe a car junkyard with some old cast engine blocks that could be angle grinded to shape? Has anyone tried this?

I was hoping to try a bit of scraping but wanted to practice first. Maybe I just need to an old skillet and practice on that haha.

 

[francist]

The trouble with sourcing cast as a blank is that it's rarely in a nicely shaped lump. That's because, well, it casts so nicely that it's produced in close to finished shape with little waste. For scraping practice though I think I might keep an eye out for dirt-cheap bandsaws or drill presses. The iron should be a more reliable quality than a skillet or barbell weight and at least you're starting out with something kind of flat.

 

[C-Bag]

I’ve gotten reasonable grey iron/DuraBar off eBay. It’s not there all the time, but once you work DuraBar you’ll never mess with unknown stuff. It’s consistent, no voids and easy to machine.

 

[Jake M]

Agreed. Pre-existing cast "things" don't tend to have a good "chunk" in them to save. They're very "shaped". And while you could grind, file, and generally make them "shiny" enough to start scraping on, it wouldn't be a flat surface and would leave you no way to quantify the work you did.

Years ago I replaced a badly warped table saw table with a used one from eBay, and the dollars from ten or twelve years ago don't translate well, but in relative terms, by the pound, even with the shipping it was dirt cheap... Something of that nature "might" get you a good enough practice blank for scraping.

 

[C-Bag]

Something of that nature "might" get you a good enough practice blank for scraping.

Good call. I gave the base and cast iron top of my defunct Grizzly cabinet saw to my brother and kept the cast iron wings as a wonderful welding table. I regret getting rid of that cast iron top. I see basket case table saws on CL fairly frequently.

 

[Mill Lee farm]

Man…. My problem is that everyone seems to sell in foot minimum lengths! Sure you can add the drop to the inventory for later use but if you can't afford a full foot to begin with….

 

[C-Bag]

How cheap are you looking for?

dura bar: Search Result | eBay

Buy and sell electronics, cars, fashion apparel, collectibles, sporting goods, digital cameras, baby items, coupons, and everything else on eBay, the world's online marketplace

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[Mill Lee farm]

Thanks!
Yes. Saw those. Unfortunately I’m looking for rectangular bar about 1.5”x3ish inches and maybe 5”-6” long?

That’s all round. Unless I limit myself to 1” tall and cut it out of the 8” round (with waste)

I did see those. Just no rectangular bar
Thanks for the help though!!!
That’s why I’m asking!
(I just might switch to steel…)

 

[C-Bag]

All you can do is wait and watch. I got a 4x4x6 chunk of Dura bar years ago and am still whittling on it. Most of these are drops off some run I guess. Dura bar is unique in that it’s like extruded not cast.

 

[frankly2]

Hey guys, the price of cast iron is so high. Do any of you know of any alternative sources of cast iron? I saw somebody recommended speedymetals.com and their prices are definitely better than most but still seem very high.

I was thinking maybe a car junkyard with some old cast engine blocks that could be angle grinded to shape? Has anyone tried this?

I was hoping to try a bit of scraping but wanted to practice first. Maybe I just need to an old skillet and practice on that haha.

I use Speedy Metals and have found their cast iron to be inclusion and void free. Also cut just enough over size to clean up nicely. Have never found any of their metals lacking. Price has never been a serious concern for me because quality and reliability are important to me, and they provide both !