my new mushroom stake

[GuntherofOrkney]

Today i finished up my new sort of mushroom stake. its made out of 1/2" thick hot rolled mild steel which is 5" by 5" square. I heated it up in the forge and dished it with the powered hammer then i welded a 15" long piece of square bar to it. I like the corners on it so i think i will leave them on,if i find i need one thats round then i will make another out of a circle of flat stock. I also popped the tire on my powered hammer while i was doin this which i knew was gonna happen soon then i burned out my angled grinder trying to clean it up,what a day.

[Sasha_Khan]

That is a thing of beauty!

[GuntherofOrkney]

thanks,now that i have a access to a forge daily i can make all kinds of things.

[Halberds]

Yes a fine looking tool.
Thanks for the pics.

Hal

[Konstantin the Red]

Oi, Gunther! You can use Super Quench!! Sent you this in PM:

Robb Gunter's "Super Quench"

5 gal water

5 lb Salt

32 oz Dawn (blue) dishwashing liquid (28 oz if it says "concentrated" on the label)

8oz Shaklee Basic I or 7oz UNSCENTED Jet-Dry or other surfactant (like Simple Green) of appropriate quantity for 5 gal mix (wetting agents)

The Jet-Dry (or whatever you use for a rinse agent) does something chemically to the surface of the steel. It allows the salt in the mix to start attacking it as soon as it hits the air - make sure you have a LOT of clear water to rinse in ready at hand. These surfacants are wetting agents. They break down the surface tension of water allowing it to make contact with a material.

We've all dipped a cold piece of metal in water and seen a bubble-like "skin" form with dry metal under it. This is surface tension trapping a layer of air, it makes a fair heat shield. In a quench, steam will form a similar surface "skin" and prevent full contact with the water, insulating the steel from a proper chill. Wetting agents prevent the "skin" from forming.

Detergents do a somewhat similar job, they're emulsifiers allowing oils and water to mix. This prevents any oily residues from the fire from forming a "heat shield" surface layer. The salt in the water raises the specific heat of the water and draws the heat from the steel faster.

Stir it up to get it moving before you quench. Don't quench anything with more than 45- 50 points of carbon. Will harden mild steel to Rockwell 42-45 (in spite of common wisdom that says you can't harden mild steel).

It's color coded - when you've exhausted the usefulness of the quench, it'll shift color from blue to green.

[GuntherofOrkney]

i cant wait to start hardening mild steel myself with super quenching.

[PatternWeld]

BTW - you can use borax, as in 20 mule team for the same surfacant effect.

[Halberds]

I am a non believer of 1018/A36 taking a hardness with any quench.
It is the bottom steel.

[Sean Powell]

I am a non believer of 1018/A36 taking a hardness with any quench.
It is the bottom steel.

Agreed in part.

1018, no appreciable effect.

A36, complete crap shoot. A36 is a minimum yield strength, not a carbon content. It could be 1050 and harden, it could be 1008 and stay butter soft. Luckily planishing stakes don't need to be ultra hard and your hollow pipe forming stakes hold up very well to forming.

Sean

[GuntherofOrkney]

well i am gonna try it and do tests to see what kind of difference it makes.

[wcallen]

Try hardening, you might be lucky.

Personally I like my stakes to actually be kind of hard since I tend to whack 1050 into them cold. Soft stakes just annoy me when they dent.

The easiest way to make hollow mushrooms is to cut up the tops of tanks. The bottom is used to make dishes, the tops work nicely as sections of balls. And just like the bottoms come in various curves, so do the tops.

The tanks are really thick up near the valve and they are hard.

I put one on the end of a long stake, used one as a male mandrel form and I have a section welded to a piece of RR track to form a fun T stake.

Wade

[Adamo]

I am a non believer of 1018/A36 taking a hardness with any quench.
It is the bottom steel.

Agreed in part.

1018, no appreciable effect.

A36, complete crap shoot. A36 is a minimum yield strength, not a carbon content. It could be 1050 and harden, it could be 1008 and stay butter soft. Luckily planishing stakes don't need to be ultra hard and your hollow pipe forming stakes hold up very well to forming.

Sean

Harumph!

Nice mushroom stake, btw.

Adam

[GuntherofOrkney]

i just got a cheap tank that i am gonna cut off the bott for a dish and then fill it will concrete and use the rest for the anvil of a powered hammer for my buddy.

[Thomas Powers]

I saw Rob Gunter demonstrate the old highly dangerous strong lye quench that Super Quench was developed to replace, (by him BTW).

He took a standard piece of 1/2" stock and cut off a bit of the end and forged it into a chisel, heat treated it with the lye quench and then used it to cut the original bar in two, COLD, with no deformation of the chisel end!---I still have that chisel in my shop BTW...

And as stated it's usability depends a lot on what batch of A-36 you get a hold of; but in general you do get some improvement!