Any Good Uses for Busted Leaf Springs?

[Soundguy]

yep.. that's half the fun.. then telling people what they are for later on!

soundguy

 

[deereman75]

I have worked with many old, old, old blacksmiths, and vintage leaf springs are THE BEST STEEL FOR KNIVES, the older the better. (the new ones are not nearly as good due to the alloy)

 

[Baby Grand]

I hardly ever throw anything away. I love making tools when I need them.

Yes sir! Toolmaking - the first profession.

 

[tcreeley]

I opened the eye up a bit on a broken leaf spring, took out the curve in the forge, and put a wooden handle in it. Made a froe for splitting logs after I hammered it and ground it. I made a knife also. It should be worked at cherry red to yellow - to hot damages the steel. It is a hard steel to work with a hammer - doesn't like to move like mild steel.

 

[smiley]

I agree! I actually bought a homemade tool many years back at a rummage sale. I offered less than than it was priced at and the woman said "if you can tell me what it is I will let you have it for that". I said "it is a tool for removing shingles from a roof". She said "gee! my husband was a roofer." Got the tool! It was a cut off baseball bat with a piece of leaf spring bolted to it, very effective too!, still have it.

We've had a couple small thin ones for as long as I can remember that were used for removing shingles, tire irons, driving into skinny places to separate things and anything else we could imagine. I did imagine a new use 7-8 years ago. We had to salvage some very fragile asbestos shingles for a repair job on another house. I ground a V into the end of one springs and sharpened the inside of the V, so we could drive it up under the shingles and cut the nails off. We did break some, but far fewer than if we tried to pull the nails. Another effective method we found for removing them was to grind the heads off the nails (with dust mask on). It would cut into the shingle slightly but that doesn't hurt them as it gets covered by the next shingle up.

 

[JB4310]

Heard some good ideas here.

I'm thinking they would be worth their weight in gold in third world countries, as farm tools, weapons etc.

Probably make a great coconut opening tool.

JB

 

[tcreeley]

Coil springs are another good source of tool steel. Cut the length of coil you want and straighten it in the forge (could use a torch). I makes great steel punches and drifts. -Nothing nicer than a square hole for a square nail!

 

[AchingBack]

Back in 1955 I took a snorkel diving class at the YMCA. We went on a field trip to Laguna Beach to dive for abalone. My gear: inner tube, burlap sack, mask, fins, snorkel, leaf spring to pry abalone from rocks fifteen feet deep. Surprise of the day - moray eel looking for prey - yikes. Who knew a 12 year old could swim so fast?

I managed to get a couple of nice abalone. I remember my mom pounding them with a tenderizing hammer until they were unrecognizable. One bite, and I wondered why I risked my life for such a yucky creature. The shell is beautiful to this day, though.