I still make 99% of my stuff out of 01 tool steel, and nothing will beat it for me, but, considering the fact that I do very small work mostly in brass and a little aluminum, the appeal of being able to make things like odd dovetails/ slot cutters quickly and easily, and pretty much entirely for free, has appeal.
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Rebar as a beautifully workable, easily hardenable steel??!
- Thread starter G Jones
- Start date
yeah Ive used them before. definitely have to agree.
There is a high tensile type of rebar,used especially as a long tierod to join large formwork together ......the knobs/bumps on it all spiral in one direction,and a sort of long nut can be screwed on to tension the bar.........Its more or less as strong as a crowbar.....and I use the 1 1/4 " stuff for lifting machines with holes in the frame.
I have worked with rebar on the lathe. It was free and I was testing a concept. The big downer was it was coated in a type of plastic and I had a lot of cleanup.
But it machined well for what I needed to prove out.
Since we are talking about free metal; printers are a good source of round bar. Especially old printers and the Oki dot matrix ones.
But it machined well for what I needed to prove out.
Since we are talking about free metal; printers are a good source of round bar. Especially old printers and the Oki dot matrix ones.
It depends on what the use is and what is being compared to. I took a tong making lesson from a curmudgeon. He had a somewhat unconventional way of teaching that probably ended up dating back to the middle ages. He would not let students work on a forge that allowed bars to pass through. When we asked how we could cut the tong blanks off the bar, he yelled "THINK"! We complained that you couldn't heat the bar at the correct place to cut it, and he said "haven't you heard of convenience bends?" We complained that you couldn't bend the bar far enough up to get the cut location in the fire. He replied, "are you limited to a single bend? THINK". When it came time to punch the hole for the rivet, he wouldn't let us use his punches, since we might ruin them. He also had no grade 5 bolts or O-1 tool steel. We had to fish a piece of mild steel out of the scrap bin. If you were not careful, the punch would get a kink at the business end that would be impossible to straighten out. He would glance over and mutter that he was surprised that you were able to get a single use out of your lousy punch the way you were poorly managing the heat. At the end of the lesson, I complained that it was a pretty unpleasant experience. He said, you have learned some lessons that are much more important than your crappy tongs that you at least finished. First, don't expect to be able to borrow tools, and second, pay attention to the different types of steel. Remember your stumbling and humiliation every time you think that junk steel will suit your needs. Too many beginner blacksmiths are enamored with mystery steel. When I got home, I forged some hot work tools out of hardenable rebar. They were so superior to mild steel. I immediately ordered a sample pack of S-7 off Ebay. It's one of the best hot work steels, but the jump in suitability from junk scrap to rebar was huge. Of course, I qualified the rebar with quench and break and spark tests.
For turning, rebar has too many inconvenient ridges. Not appropriate use.
For turning, rebar has too many inconvenient ridges. Not appropriate use.
I agree that rebar is usually not a good choice but certain structures such as bridges and tall building foundations require a specific grade of rebar (not 100% recycled steel from China) and depending on your needs may be the right material for you. I know that you're not likely to come across this type of rebar at a scrap yard or job site because most of the time these high end jobs are gated and the scrap is sorted and recycled. Also most rebar is stamped with a few numbers and letters that will tell you the manufacturer and the grade. Grade 60 has more carbon than grade 40 and some rebar is actually a low to medium alloy. Grade 60 has a minimum yield strength of 60,000 PSI and a minimum tensile strength of 90,000 PSI while grade 40 has a minimum yield strength of 40,000 PSI and a minimum tensile strength of 60,000 PSI. To identify it you look at the numbers or characters between the lines or ribs. Just do a quick google search using the keywords "what grade rebar is required for structural" or "identifying rebar". That being said, I'm pretty sure your not going to go to Lowe's or your local supply chain and find this type of rebar but then again I have not really looked that far into it and I don't know that much about alloying elements to tell you which one is better
I second this. I have scrapped many printers, fax machines and copiers. You can usually find the 200lb. commercial printer/fax combo machines on craigslist for free if your willing to remove them yourself. I got a Zerox that had 8 different sections to it for free and after about 2 hours of disassembly I had three 5 gallon buckets full of ground rod from 2MM up to 20MM and coffee cans full of gears, motors, screws, springs, bearings, one way rollers, bushings, etc.