any use for the grindings?

A

Allan Molstad

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Ok, everyone here always ends up with a huge pile of grindings under their contact wheel that all came off the many knives that have made.

I have always had a question about anyone attempting to forge this stuff and make a knife with it?
 
I think the reason you don't hear about it, is because the grindings are also full of dust from your belts. Maybe you could seperate it with a magnet?

There was a thread here recently where a maker used drill-press shavings in some damascus... mainly because he knew it whas only steel, and what kind/s of steel it was.
 
I am not sure Allan but you would need a lot of ground metal to make it viable and the fact that the debris comes of the wheel as sparks may change the properties of the metal.
I am not a knifemaker so I do not know.
I used to spend days at a bench grinder shaping brackets and the like, you would need weeks of grinding dust to make anything.
Not worth while I suspect
 
I have always had a question about this from the time I was a kid.

My dad had an old friend who we went to visit one time.
This friend of dad's worked for a company who made ball bearings.
I remember he took us on a tour of where he worked and he knocked off this huge 7-10 inch high rock-hard pile of grindings that were under a type of mill or something.
All of this pile came off of the grindings of ball bearings.
My brother still has that rock-hard pile, (It looks like a giant steel snowcone.)

I always wanted to know if they were able to remeld that stuff back into steel?
From what I remember they must end up with new piles of that stuff every day that they have to so something with.

You would think that just tossing that stuff out would be such a waiste
 
I mix some with paint and use it for doing no-slip grip on machetes, floors and tractor steps and spots on the combine.
 
Allan Molstad said:
I have always had a question about this from the time I was a kid.

My dad had an old friend who went to visit one time.
This friend of dad's worked for a company who made ball bearings.
I remember he took us on a tour of where he worked and he knocked off this huge 7-10 inch high rock-hard pile of grindings that were under a type of mill or something.
All of this pile came off of the grindings of ball bearings.
My brother still has that rock-hard pile, (It looks like a giant steel snowcone.)

I always wanted to know if they were able to remeld that stuff back into steel?
From what I remember they must end up with new piles of that stuff every day that they have to so something with.

You would think that just tossing that stuff out would be such a waiste
Click to expand...
I think the chafe or cuttings off a mill or lathe would be ok as they are cut fairly cool and are of a large quantity.
Grindings are almost dust and would not be practical.
 
IMHO, grinder waste is just that...waste. If you are looking for powdered metal you'd be better off just buying it, since you'd know that it is free from stuff that could cause problems later on. -Matt-
 
You've stated several times about making your own steel. You could consider this a form of iron ore.
 
fitzo said:
You've stated several times about making your own steel. You could consider this a form of iron ore.
Click to expand...

I had thought about this as well. If you'r going all the way to smelting in a crucible, wouldn't the silicates from the belt bits melt, flaot, and act as flux?

-d
 
fitzo said:
You've stated several times about making your own steel. You could consider this a form of iron ore.
Click to expand...

You know me too well, for you have guessed my secret reason for asking.

I had this idea that if ANYONE ever answered my question about having done this, or if it would work at all, then I could perhaps use grinding steel waiste one day as a form of iron sand, and make my own iron/steel from it..and go from there...
 
I would think the mill scraps would be a very good choice for some canned damascus also. Some of the meteror are curls from being cut that are used in damascus . I think that would look very nice with the 52100 curls mixed with 1084 power in a can setup.
 
ive been thinking about this, maybe you could save up the waste in a metal box and quench in it like a platequench, but you can use almost finished (not flat) pieces. or spread some of the dust on a plate for more contact area, however aluminum would probably be better, but this is free.
 
i have a speaker magnet behind my grinder and 1 under my band saw table i dont think you would have to worry about stone flakes to much like this cus stone is nonmagnetic right?

ive put some in a baby food jar and poored some ferric in it to try to make ________ ya that japan word for rusty stuff to add color to a hammon
the jar gets warm when you mix it up but not real hot.
 
I suspect the best thing to do with a pile of steel grindings (other than throw it out) would be to mix it in to the garden. Roses love iron, don't they?:D
 
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