Stainless ?????????

B . Buxton

B . Buxton

Joined
Jul 8, 2001
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A friend of mine in the boat business just dropped off a broke 4 ft x 1 1/2" .stainless steel drive shaft. I was thinking about forging it into flat stock for hardware material. Would anyone have any idea of what stainless series this might be and how to anneal it after flattening it out. I've never fooled with stainless at all so this is new to me, it would sure be nice to get something out of this shaft for I know he has several more.

Thank you,

Bill
 
Bill it could be just about anything but odds are it is 316L stainless. I have forged 316 before and it is nice to work with (pretty tough stuff) but have never annealed it after forging. Here is where your press or a power hammer will be handy.
 
I believe I may have just used 316 stainless (free mystery material) and it was terrible to work with :eek:. Milling & drilling specifically, I'm not sure on the ID . I should add it was for channel bali handles, obviously, being an austenitic stainless it is not fit for blades, you already knew that though ;)
 
Thanks Bill, I'll see if I can find some info on 316. Did you get some of that big W-2 ?

Bill
 
Bill,
If you want, send a small piece to me I will have it analyzed for you.
Matt Doyle
 
Yeah, it is quite possibly 316. Great corrosion resistance and strong. If it is 316, it can be a dog to work with.

303 and 303L have good corrosion resistance and is better to work with. Not for blades obviously.
 
Thanks for the offer Matt, but its not that big of deal. Its just intended for hardware anyway so I'll do some experimenting with it and see how it goes. My biggest concern is drilling and tapping it, other then that it should work fine.

Thanks again,

Bill
 
Bill
some of the lower grad stuff you can't harden much anyway..
if it is fairly soft you could use a band saw and just slab it up..

also if you have a good size salvage yard around they should have a hand held analyzer to see what you have there.. just another thought...:)
 
Bill
some of the lower grad stuff you can't harden much anyway..
if it is fairly soft you could use a band saw and just slab it up..

Dan, Dan, Dan, an old metal masher like me band sawing when I could be pounding. :confused: :D I forged a piece out yesterday evening to 1/4"x1 1/4" x 15" and cut a piece off this morning, it appears to work great, not to hard not to soft, just right. Thanks for the info, I do appreciate it. ;)

Bill
 
B . Buxton said:
Bill
some of the lower grad stuff you can't harden much anyway..
if it is fairly soft you could use a band saw and just slab it up..

Dan, Dan, Dan, an old metal masher like me band sawing when I could be pounding. :confused: :D I forged a piece out yesterday evening to 1/4"x1 1/4" x 15" and cut a piece off this morning, it appears to work great, not to hard not to soft, just right. Thanks for the info, I do appreciate it. ;)

Bill
Click to expand...

Luke RRR:confused:
I mean Bill, cross over to the dark side once in a while ;) :D
 
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