banding steel

C

cwhittington

Joined
Sep 6, 2002
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106
The railroad is laying new track near my home and they've placed the new rail in huge stacks down the alignment of the old track and have left piles of 2"+ banding steel that I guess banded the rails together. It's just like regular smaller banding but bigger. I took some and hardened it and it got brittle enough to break, and its thick enough to make small knifes like steak knives- between 1/32 and 1/16 inch thick.
Anyone know what kind of steel it might be? It might be good for damascus or something-
 
More than likely it's plain 'ol 1095. That's what most high tensile strapping is for heavy duty applications. I'd say banding rails together would qualify as a heavy duty application!
 
Whatever it is it makes mighty nice patterned damascus. I mixed some with bandsaw blade (L-6) once and it turned out very pretty.
 
Make sure you grab plenty.
I have used the thin stuff they put around packs of bricks
it works well. Another source is the steel merchant. I went to buy some steel and saw they had a scrap bin full of 1 inch wide. They sell it at scrap prices. But now you will have me looking for the railway reconstructions. I have already used railway dog spikes for all kinds of stuff. Thanks for the tip. It works well in damascus the good thing is you can start a billet with 10 or 15 layers for the first weld, purhaps more.
 
I just came back with pickup load and am considering going for more-
there are many piles of the stuff along the road and the thought of all that good steel getting tossed goes against my grain. My wife will not have a real appreciation of the value of all that steel however...
Thanks for the info on this stuff Reg- send me your address and I'll send you some if you will send me pics of your results.
My home email is chipwit2@attbi.com and work email (more reliable) is cwhittington@Waterrights.swrcb.ca.gov.

PS- What's a good way to quickly cut this stuff? I tried some tinsnips and they utterly failed. If I can cut it into short lengths I could stash a huge supply of it and become a damascus master....
 
To cut it try an angle grinder with a metal cutting wheel, cheap and quick.
Regards
Pinpoint
 
For cutting and other materails, Delbert E. just turned on to Enco shears 8" model @ $89.95 capacity 1/2" round. This saves alot of time and effort when making damascus amd mokunme.
 
I use an angle grinder as well. Your next trip is to the saw doctor.
I have one about 30km away If you get them on a good day they will give you some off cuts of indutrial size band saw blades or old one out of the bin even 1 inch wide can be put side by side to make up your 2 inch strap for some contrast. If you use just the strap you get a pattern. it is basically the welds. the other thing I have done is to put 2 or 3 blades together to make 1/4 thick,with some toh 1/4 thick bar.

If you have got a big leg vice and good health insurance or saftey equipment I have clamped the saw blades in the vice and folded back and forward. A bit dangerous. Of cource you have that supply of charcoal heat the strap up and hot cut it with a chisel. I have a cutting sadle made up for my anvil to protect the surface.

I'll send a email about some non related stuff.
 
Makita 14" chop saw is the tool of choice for all damascus work. You can chop thru 20 at a time. Tell the wife its for a good cause and make her a knife or a damascus heart for a necklace. Worked for me.
 
I've never done any damascus work, but I'll second a chop saw for jobs like this. I prefer Dewalt, but that's simply personal opinion
 
Bruce
I like the idea of a damascus heart I'll give that a try to offset the next purchase
Regards
Pinpoint
 
A Cheap garage sale table saw with a metal cutting blade works great also for us guys that don't have a chop saw.
Bruce
 
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