Making a square head nail out of a 1/4” by 2” long stainless steel 304 hex head lag bolt

I am thinking to use a Stainless machine bolt which is long enough to let me turn down the OD on my mini lathe.
Perhaps I am better ofstarting with a 8” long by
1/2” round stainless stock.
Using my chuck and maybe my tailstock if there is enough room to get my cutter to the workpiece.
1/8” - 3/16” may work.
Thanks for any help in advance.
ps
If I am unable to make a stainless steel square head round shaft nail to size, maybe I could find someone willing to make 3 of these for a price?
J
 
A cold shut can start a crack. I saw an accident involving a bolt repurposed as a punch. It looked like the break started at a cold shut.

How long does this nail have to be? 8" x 3/32" s pretty willowy. This may be difficult to drive. Galvanization is easy to deal with. Just dissolve it off with vinegar or muriatic acid.
 
Just a question for thought. Did they have stainless steel at the time the original antique hardware was made? Wouldn’t you want to use regular mild steel or iron?


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Cr23484 said:
Why is a cold shut dangerous, please excuse my ignorance.
thanks
J
Click to expand...
I'm NOT a blacksmith in any way, shape or form ... but let me try to demonstrate my ignorance:

When forge welding two pieces of metal together, the idea is to have both of them hot enough to be near the melting point, so when hammered together they fuse into one piece of metal. If one or both pieces are not hot enough, they'll smash together OK, but will not fuse. There will be a miniscule gap or discontinuity in the metal. This gap will act like a crack, and as @ericc pointed out, such a crack can lead to failure. It will grow because the discontinuity will form a "stress riser."

Given that, I can see where ericc was concerned about hammering down the threads - the length of the spiral along the screw is a brazilian inches long, so there are a brazilian chances to not quite get it right, resulting in a cold shut. You wouldn't want the nail to fail when it's halfway home.

How'd I do?
 
John TV said:
Just a question for thought. Did they have stainless steel at the time the original antique hardware was made? Wouldn’t you want to use regular mild steel or iron?


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Click to expand...
The originals are painted , so in my ignorance I thought O could just paint the heads.
Then I read stainless does not hold paint well, unless properly prepared.
I am going to go to steel square head lags
Thanks
J
 
hman said:
I'm NOT a blacksmith in any way, shape or form ... but let me try to demonstrate my ignorance:

When forge welding two pieces of metal together, the idea is to have both of them hot enough to be near the melting point, so when hammered together they fuse into one piece of metal. If one or both pieces are not hot enough, they'll smash together OK, but will not fuse. There will be a miniscule gap or discontinuity in the metal. This gap will act like a crack, and as @ericc pointed out, such a crack can lead to failure. It will grow because the discontinuity will form a "stress riser."

Given that, I can see where ericc was concerned about hammering down the threads - the length of the spiral along the screw is a brazilian inches long, so there are a brazilian chances to not quite get it right, resulting in a cold shut. You wouldn't want the nail to fail when it's halfway home.

How'd I do?
Click to expand...
You explained it extremely well sir !
Thanks
ericc said:
Don't worry about forge welding for now, but your explanation is correct.
Click to expand...
I watched many videos o where they forged a stainless steel bolt into a knife or hatchet or some other object. Is that safe to do, because they used a propane torch in one video, which sounds like fun to me, if it’s a safe practice.
 
The steel square head lags sounds like a good idea. A little drilling won't hurt. Some purists complain that today's square head bolts have the wrong size heads. I know restorers who will pay good money for the correct sized head, but not enough to make a living wage as a blacksmith. Also, making these bolts is monotonous work.

Stainless steel bolts are mostly 304, an austenitic stainless steel. A martensitic stainless steel like a 400 . series would be a better choice. But that's getting into details. Blacksmithing and machining go well together, but the connections are ancient. A fellow blacksmith, and retired machinist, gave me a book on this subject.
 
ericc said:
The steel square head lags sounds like a good idea. A little drilling won't hurt. Some purists complain that today's square head bolts have the wrong size heads. I know restorers who will pay good money for the correct sized head, but not enough to make a living wage as a blacksmith. Also, making these bolts is monotonous work.

Stainless steel bolts are mostly 304, an austenitic stainless steel. A martensitic stainless steel like a 400 . series would be a better choice. But that's getting into details. Blacksmithing and machining go well together, but the connections are ancient. A fellow blacksmith, and retired machinist, gave me a book on this subject.
Click to expand...
Thanks Eric
J
 
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