Hydrolic cylinder rods....good to forge?

G

godogs57

Joined
Apr 16, 2004
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I met up with a farmer this morning that knew I made knives, some forged. He asked me if I wanted some of his rods that were ever so slightly bent and therefore unuseable to him. He is taking a bunch of old cylinders and having them rebuilt with new rods,etc.

He said that their metal cutting bandsaw could not cut it...they had to cut 'em with a cutting torch. The rods are the usual foot and a half to two foot long, inch to two in diameter rods.

Don't want to pass up free steel if you folks think it might be good blade steel to forge.

What do you think? Price is right.....

Thanks for any advice...
Hank
 
I am not sure what they are, but I think that they are something similar to 4130. I believe that the hardness is only on the surface due to hard chrome plating.

I made a few punches and such out of them once and they were tough but not overly hard.

Let us know how they work for you.
 
Think most of them are 4140, not realy good for knives, but great for forge tools. I'd get them if he's going to let you have them and make a test blade out of one and see what happens, if you get a good blade you know that rod is usable. Just make sure to burn the chrome off. Free steel is free steel.
 
I'm not sure free necessarily equals free. There are usually costs associated with free. For instance, I got four free huge sets of leaf springs weighing in at probably 100 plus pounds each, say about 500 pounds total. I was stoked at having what I was reasonably certain would prove to be a quarter ton of free 5160.

My first cost was having to take work time to fetch the stuff during business hours and get the fork lifted onto my truck. My second cost was having to labor at manhandling those buggas off my truck to stash at the forge were I work. My third cost was having to labor at wrestling them back on my truck, then off my truck and carry them up a hill behind my house when my employer moved. My forth cost was to dismantle one, hack a piece off, prepare it and ship it off for analysis.

I know none of these costs were hard currency, but they can add up. I'm not even talking about the day, or two, or three one might spend hacking and forging and grinding and heat treating and testing to figure out a way to use ones free steel. Fortunately, none of which I had done before getting the analysis results back and finding out what I had was not 5160, but 5140, which won't do what I want. The guy who tested my sample piece had said he never had tested a piece of leaf spring that wasn't 5160. He has now!
 
first, i would bet its 4140 due to my experience at work with air cylinders and 4140. second, i would disagree with with William, ive made a few really good blades from 4140. i wouldnt use it for a thin fillet knife or swiss army type blade but, i made a 6" scandi ground about an 1/8" thick and its edge holding capability is way better than i thought it would be and 59-61 rc... if i happen to repeatedly stab the hood of a car ill be sure to let you know how it fairs...
 
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