Cutting Serious Steel?

dominic · Post by **dominic** » Thu Apr 16, 2009 1:48 pm

Hey gang; I need some advice. I have unearthed some interesting treasures while cleaning out an old barn on my property. I found a couple of old, steel pry bars. I am guessing that they are a fairly high-quality steel (please correct me if I'm wrong); they seem very heavy for their size and have a nice ring when they are tapped. They are about four feet long, with a round 2" handle and a rectangular head with a chisel-point end.

Anyways; I thought they would be great to make into some vice-mounted tools/anvils. I have access to a welder, but how in the world can I cut them into manageable sections? Any thoughts?

LordUlrich · Post by **LordUlrich** » Thu Apr 16, 2009 2:03 pm

Well the right tool for the job is a horizontal band saw. but those are a bit pricey. a cutting torch should to it. otherwise, if you don't have those, i would use a reciprocating saw (sawzall), just make sure to clamp it in a vice. Worst case a hack saw (less than $10) will do it, it just will be a lot of work.

Good luck, and we want pic of what you make :wink:

The Iron Dwarf · Post by **The Iron Dwarf** » Thu Apr 16, 2009 2:19 pm

an angle grinder with a metal cutting disc in it ( get spare discs though ).
make sure the guard is in place, wear eye protection and make sure you know what you are doing

losthelm · Post by **losthelm** » Thu Apr 16, 2009 2:29 pm

They are probibly worth more as they are depending on what they look like do you have a picture?
Usualy for making tools and such you can pickup a junk axle at the scrap yard or old jack hammer bits. scrap prices are extra low right now.

matthijs · Post by **matthijs** » Fri Apr 17, 2009 3:29 am

The Iron Dwarf wrote:an angle grinder with a metal cutting disc in it ( get spare discs though ).
make sure the guard is in place, wear eye protection and make sure you know what you are doing

+1

If you don't yet have an angle grinder, get one.
When using them _always_ wear ear and eye protection. They will destroy your hearing even if they sound like they don't. And bits of metal in the eye can be rather nasty.

If you've got access to a forge, cutting it on the hardy would also be a good option.

Peter Baker · Post by **Peter Baker** » Fri Apr 17, 2009 3:50 am

Barring all of this, a hacksaw is cheap and doable, just don't expect to be done in 10 minutes. 2 of my older brothers and my dad took turns with a hacksaw and drill all day a few years back to cut a section of a brake drum apart to use for a hood for our first forge.
But we're crazy, angle grinder would be a much better choice.

And I'm very big on eye protection, had to go to the doc's at 15 and have them dremel a piece of steel from my eye 'cause I wasn't wearing goggles while pounding a few hundred fencing staples in. Had to wear an eyepatch for 3 days, and had to deal with headaches any time I saw bright lights for about a week, on top of it costing a couple thousand dollars.

dominic · Post by **dominic** » Fri Apr 17, 2009 7:09 am

OK, thanks for the suggestions. I have been thinking about getting an angle grinder anyway, so maybe now is the time.

I promise I will wear eye protection; I just spent $4K on LASIK surgery and I have to protect my investment.

mattmaus · Post by **mattmaus** » Fri Apr 17, 2009 8:09 am

Depending on how hard they are, the angle grinder might be faster than anything else anyway.

I have some stuff of questionable pedigree. Had it in the horizontal saw for 20 minutes and came back to find my saw blade toothless. Same cut took me about a minute with the cut of wheel.

The Iron Dwarf · Post by **The Iron Dwarf** » Fri Apr 17, 2009 8:35 am

I have a chop saw with a 14" cutting disc in it, anything questionable goes in that as a disc is under $5.
my cutting off saw has a 12 1/2" SHSS blade that costs about $200 and about $30 to sharpen.
anything small can be done with the grinder

Thomas Powers · Post by **Thomas Powers** » Fri Apr 17, 2009 12:53 pm

Pry bars are often medium carbon steel---great for those sorts of tooling.

Thomas

mongrel · Post by **mongrel** » Fri Apr 17, 2009 10:00 pm

sounds like you found some tanker bars used to pull the tracks off of tanks and artillery vehicles. They're definitely worth more as a single piece than multiples. But i don't really know who you could market them too other than history enthusiasts.

Kindyr · Post by **Kindyr** » Sat Apr 18, 2009 5:31 am

based on his description, I'm thinking he found a couple of these:

http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/wcs/ ... =pry%2Bbar

dominic · Post by **dominic** » Sat Apr 18, 2009 5:45 am

I'll get a couple of pictures and put them up later today.

Ingelri · Post by **Ingelri** » Sun Apr 19, 2009 7:58 am

The Iron Dwarf wrote:I have a chop saw with a 14" cutting disc in it, anything questionable goes in that as a disc is under $5.
my cutting off saw has a 12 1/2" SHSS blade that costs about $200 and about $30 to sharpen.
anything small can be done with the grinder

Yeah, I have a Harbour Freight chop saw that I cut heavy stuff with. Works great, it was cheap, and the blades are cheap too.

Ingelri

Dmitriy · Post by **Dmitriy** » Sun Apr 19, 2009 9:40 am

Dude.
Just use a katana!!!

:lol:

-D