Howdy,
The enginnering firm behind my work said "Hey, pick up whatever you want out here...it's all scrap..." Now, the 40 ton I-beams are out...but they have some ultra-light strap-like material that is "springy" but seems to resist damage easily....so, how do you identify spring steel? Is it just "springy"?
-Aaron
How do you identify spring-steel in a scrap pile?
-
Loren Patterson
- Archive Member
- Posts: 171
- Joined: Wed Nov 22, 2000 2:01 am
- Location: Olympia, Washington
Aaron, those straps are probably spring steel.. but the problem of identifying unidentified steel has always been a problem. there are about three different tests you can try. One is the spark test if you can get the steel to a grinder. Its not as simple as this... but if you know for sure its not cast nor stianless, then the most sparks means the higher the carbon. The nest test is the file test. Try to run a file down an edge of the steel. If it skates accross and does not bite, its somewhat hardened. If it bites, its either mild or annealed high carbon. The last test is the snap test. You can usually take a piece of hardened steel and break it with a hammer in a vice or you might be able to bend it to break it. Mild steel should just bend and look at you funny. This doesnt always work either because at a certain temper a hardened steel will take quite a bit of bend. So as you can see its quite hard to tell sometimes. Sometimes its easy.
- Loren
- Loren
-
Krag
- Archive Member
- Posts: 2178
- Joined: Thu Aug 10, 2000 1:01 am
- Location: Clear Lake (Houston), TX
- Contact:
It's the one that has the chalk marks that say: SAE-5160 or SAE-4130, not ASTM-A-36 
.
Seriously, though, all alloy sheet steel has the numbers stamped somewhere. Most high carbon steels do as well. Mild generally doesn't. If you find sheet steel with any lettering visible, it's probably some sort of heat treatable stuff. Another way is to become familiar with what certain objects are made from. Car parts are usually 4130. Find somewhere that makes steel auto parts and a lot of their scrap will be this. Likewise, farming equipment is usually 1050-1060 carbon steel, etc. What do y'all make from the sheet steel? Most stuff associated with building structures is A-36 which is pretty much just mild steel. However, L6 tool steel and a few others come in sheet as well as 1050 plain carbon steel. take a little piece and do a spark test. Lots of little flares with branches means it has carbon in it. Long straight sparke with just a few flares/branches is just mild or low carbon stuff. If it's red sparks that are long with virtually no branching, send it all to me, you found wrought iron.
------------------
Krag von Berghen
KragAxe Armoury
Member's Pics
.Seriously, though, all alloy sheet steel has the numbers stamped somewhere. Most high carbon steels do as well. Mild generally doesn't. If you find sheet steel with any lettering visible, it's probably some sort of heat treatable stuff. Another way is to become familiar with what certain objects are made from. Car parts are usually 4130. Find somewhere that makes steel auto parts and a lot of their scrap will be this. Likewise, farming equipment is usually 1050-1060 carbon steel, etc. What do y'all make from the sheet steel? Most stuff associated with building structures is A-36 which is pretty much just mild steel. However, L6 tool steel and a few others come in sheet as well as 1050 plain carbon steel. take a little piece and do a spark test. Lots of little flares with branches means it has carbon in it. Long straight sparke with just a few flares/branches is just mild or low carbon stuff. If it's red sparks that are long with virtually no branching, send it all to me, you found wrought iron.
------------------
Krag von Berghen
KragAxe Armoury
Member's Pics