Well,,, where to start. Finally snagged some of that old copper flashing from a re-roof at my job, 1 1/2 X 15+ feet (4 sections) heavy, annealed copper. The city is putting in a light rail and I procured a 2 foot section of brand new rail, about 8 inches tall. Fired up my brake drum forge I built 5 years ago and the squirrelcage fan still works! Scrounged up enough lumber in the alleys to put 4 full sheets of plywood in the new rafters of my oolldd garage and stored all the stuff that came out of my 2000 sq.ft. rental house but won't fit in OUR OWN 1000 sq.ft house. Plus built work benches for my grinder and drill press etc, for free. And today I went back to this local steel dealer who said he had some tool steel Gov. surplus but was 5 inch rounds (cut that with a hacksaw) to pick up some 5160 "spring Steel" he had. I didn't know if $0.30 per lb. was a high price so I did a search of BF archives,,,, 
,, yup a good deal!
Got 21 feet (54 lbs ) for $18!!!!!! AND he said he had a ****load more and the more I buy , the cheaper it gets. LOL. CHEAPER!!!!!! So,,, I had some trouble believing that this was the real deal and was snooping around the rack and found some that was still tagged and sure enough it said 5160H. Now my qeustion is how to forge this stuff...lol... It is ~1/4 X 2 inch. If I cut off 3-4 inches ,,ummmm,,, see the only forging I have done is files and they are already close to shape,,,, ,I can just squish and stretch and tease into a knife-like shape,,right? Like can I put it on edge to make it thicker and thus longer,,,, Any tips?? whoa,,,thats alot of typing.. sorry,,, I will get the heat treating tips from the archive so ,,,maybe just some forging 5160 tips would be helpful. Thanks all,,,JM
,, yup a good deal! Got 21 feet (54 lbs ) for $18!!!!!! AND he said he had a ****load more and the more I buy , the cheaper it gets. LOL. CHEAPER!!!!!! So,,, I had some trouble believing that this was the real deal and was snooping around the rack and found some that was still tagged and sure enough it said 5160H. Now my qeustion is how to forge this stuff...lol... It is ~1/4 X 2 inch. If I cut off 3-4 inches ,,ummmm,,, see the only forging I have done is files and they are already close to shape,,,, ,I can just squish and stretch and tease into a knife-like shape,,right? Like can I put it on edge to make it thicker and thus longer,,,, Any tips?? whoa,,,thats alot of typing.. sorry,,, I will get the heat treating tips from the archive so ,,,maybe just some forging 5160 tips would be helpful. Thanks all,,,JM