sucker rod steel

W

wild wolf

Joined
Feb 23, 2012
Messages
8
Hi I would like to ask what steel is sucker rod make out of and how to heat treat, temper and so on?
 
I have cut some of it back before I got into knifemaking and I would bet it is hardened steel. I have never seen anything so hard to cut with a torch.

If I ever get into smithing (or have a way to press rod) I'll go get some more and send it off for analysis. I have heard it is an air hardening steel but only some testing would prove that.

In other words I have no idea what steel it is but I bet it would be worth sending off a small piece to a lab for testing, especially if you can get a lot. My buddy owned over 1000 acres and we literally hauled off 100 tons of old well gear and almost all of it was cable or rod.

I usually don't chime in on threads asking what used steel is. I highly recommend buying it from a reputable supplier but I keep thinking about that rod and how tough it was. I used to recycle metal with a friend who had a smelter (lol and a gold mine too!) and the stuff was the hardest thing we ever dealt with.
 
Sucker rod COULD be W2, 9260, or God knows what. If you have a lot of it from the same source and manufacturer, getting a piece tested would be a good idea. If it still has a manufacturer's part number, you might trace that down.

Other than that no one could tell you what it is. Chances are it will make knives.....but how will you do the HT without knowing what you are working on?
 
It's been tested, commonly 4130,4140 or 1045, think toughness not edge holding. I have used a good bit of it.
 
I forged some sucker rod to make a handle for a leg vise, and that stuff was ridiculously stiff under the hammer. So my guess was 4140 or 6150.
 
I checked out 1 website that had @ 10 different types of sucker rod of different compositions. They all had aluminum and copper as part of the alloy and all were lower carbon than what is seen in most knife steels (0.20% -0.45%).
 
That is why I said to test it. Some is higher carbon and higher alloy than others. Years ago it was made out of whatever the foundary/mill had on hand.
 
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