Scavenged Metal

i4Marc

i4Marc

Joined
Oct 19, 2011
Messages
5,047
Ok, we are not talking about blade steel here. Does anyone here see anything wrong or problematic with using something like stainless sheet metal from a discarded barbecue grill or serving tray or similar for spacers and liners etc.?
 
You should be fine but who knows... I wouldn't put 20 hours into a knife and risk using any unknown materials.
 
Chill a bit Marc....you gave the chaps here all of ten hours before you started yelling at them ( and those were in the middle of the night).
 
Sorry, I wasn't yelling. I just meant "is there anybody in here?" I know those hours were in the middle of the night. But as the hours went by the thread was disappearing out of sight. I was only trying to bump the thread up where people could see it in the daylight hours. ;)
 
I have been tempted many times to do something similar. I have not though because I have the same thoughts as DFK. I did make an exception once for a sentimental deal. Found an old piece of a misery whip saw blade sticking up out of the ground on my ranch. Quine sabe? Who knows how old? Folks with steel been around here since the Missions. Made a nice little knife out of it. Won't hold an edge worth a darn,(I've made quite a few knives out of misery whip saws and have had em turn out well, this one just didn't HT the same). But who cares. Cut a couple calves at our next branding and then it sits on the shelf looking bitchin. It's the story that is worth it to me, the steel coming from my ranch, otherwise no, I wouldn't do it.
 
I buy ALL my metal new now unless it is salvaged for sentimental purposes. I learned some lessons the hard way.
Stainless steel has a HUGE swing in properties from the very hard and very resilient to the unbelievably soft and esy to scratch. Unfortunately a lot of the ornamental stuff is the latter, and while tough enough for decoration is way too flimsy for structural work where you want tolerances to stay true. Again, learned this one the hard way...
Most metal suppliers have grades of stainless that will suit you fine for non blade use and are priced accordingly. If you do use salvaged stuff I would just caution you to test, test and retest...
 
Ok. I didn't realize the concerns. No scrap metal for me. Thanks everybody.
 
Is it flat?
I've used some given brass for spacers.
It was free but also wasn't 100% flat and it shows gaps.
It was some expensive saving, next time I'll spend the few cents buying FLAT material
 
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