Anyone know how I can harden home made skids?

[J_J]

BayouMan,

I am rather curious if it will cut some little trenches where ever you pull it? I still think long stringers would work out the best. Just about all things that slide have runners that run the length of the skid. Who would want to put treads on something going forward. Treads like on a dozer give it traction. 90 degrees across your intended path would seem counter productive. JMHO

 

[BayouMan]

Hey JJ,
Just got through using the box on a job this morning. Worked just fine. It is not uncommon to leave narrow skid marks with this piece of equipment. I agree, that logic says that you should run the beads lengthwise, but after reading some of the articles, it made sense that material would be trapped in the squares and you actually ride on that trapped material. If it proves otherwise, I can always try like you said.

Appreciate your interest.

Mike

 

[Scotty370]

I'm surprized that no one mentioned using old spring steel? But since we've got the 'brain-trust' active, explain to me a little about hardening. Frosty2 sez "Heat it red hot, and wipe it with quenching oil, or let it air cool", (or something like that!) I always thought the process involved quick-quenching in oil, or water? ~Scotty

 

[Frosty2]

Scotty,The place I work at uses a special quench but the average hobbyist isn't going to find that.The problem w/plain water is you can crack the red hot steel pretty easy.I'm sure quench oil is one of those things that a well stocked hardware store could get for you.The thing about air cooling is just that,it needs to be air cooled quickly for it to work.Sort of how the welding up of the piece works.Might be harder to do in the summer.Sorry for the confusion.

 

[MikeD74T]

Scotty, The quick answer to your inquiry -heat to red, quench quickly to make it hard -reheat to (temper) draw out excess hardness. As it is reheated you will see a series of color changes relating to temperature. Stop heating at the desired hardness. Heating to red & air cooling draws out all hardness(annealing), often done to make material easier to machine, etc.
More here:LB0013.0004 Heat Treating Steel Normalizing | Lessons in Blacksmithing - look at next few pages. MikeD74T

 

[patrick_g]

Burned oil?? Google was no help... What is a burned oil metal finish?

Pat

 

[J_J]

I believe that any steel , when heated up cherry red and quenched in oil, any oil, will make the metal black. There may even be an oil especially for quenching.

http://www.metalsmith.org/pub/mtlsmith/V21.3/TTTCURVE.htm

http://www.anvilfire.com/FAQs/quenchants.htm

 

[BayouMan]

Guys,
I think you may have misunderstood what I meant about burned oil. This is what we refer to as used motor oil. I save some of this after an oil change. It does a good job of protecting steel that is not painted and we also use it to put on treated lumber on our trailers. On the bionic blade, I used a paint brush and some used oil to coat the new metal and welds as a way to slow down corrosion.
I did consider using this oil to quench with, but I had no way of heating the entire 4' piece at once and then quench. That was a contributing factor to using the hardening rods on the skids. Sorry for any confusion I may have caused. And Yes, there is a special oil made for quenching.

Mike

 

[fxrupr]

Find some old car or truck springs. Heat them up to flatten them out and drill and bolt them to the skids with plow bolts. You may have to burn holes with a gas ax but it will work. Some of the other posters are correct. If the steel is not the right composition it will not and cannot be hardened. Thats why they call it mild steel. Last year I chopped up some 1930's vintage disc plows with the intention of selling the scrap. I missed the price bubble and ended up using a couple of the 1 x 3 flats for something else. I tried drilling that stuff and ruined several drill bits before giving up to acetyline. That old implement steel was the hardest stuff I've run across in quite some time. We made tires for logging scoots out of 3/4" x 6" spring steel at Dunklee's Machine Shop in Brattleboro VT back in the 70's.