Type of steel

[Syncro]

Boy, I gotta say I am really impressed by the knowledge in these forums. Maybe someone out there can help with a question on steel. I am going to weld some wear strips on to the bottom of my loader bucket and went down to my local frabrication shop to get some 3/8" x 2 1/2" pieces. The guy said I should use either 'plow steel' or T-1, he then said that T-1 was very expensive, and that 'plow steel' would be OK, and still would last a lot longer than mild steel. Sounds reasonable, so I buy about 9' of the plow steel ($45.) When I got back to my shop I tried a file of the 'plow steel', but can't see any difference as with a piece of scrap mild steel. Also, when I touched a grinder wheel with it, I see no difference in the sparks. I always thought harder seel should make small fine sparks. OK, did I get duped or am I 'testing' it the wrong way. Its going on the bucket either way, just thought someone might be able to shed some lght on this

 

[have_blue]

Hmmm... sounds fishy. Cold rolled is dead soft, and almost every harder or tougher allow should file at least a little harder. Grinding sparks can be hard to read. It's not just the fineness of the sparks, but the branching. The more carbon in the alloy, the more little micro-branches will appear in the sparks. Sometimes other metals or additives can change the spark pattern and mask the carbon content too.

Carbon content is very important for hardness, but not the only important thing. Some alloys may contain the same carbon and hardness, but the addition of (example) manganese can make them more abrasion resistant.

My advice is to find out exactly what alloy (example 1018) the cold rolled and the "plow steel" alloys are, and look up the characteristics on charts (probably easy to find on google). Especially so if your project will require a lot of hard work!

 

[RonR]

I drilled through the cutting edge of my loader yesterday. That stuff was HARD!

I don't know the designation of it, but some applications use a steel called "abrasive resistent". I would think that would be a good application to use in your situation.

For me, I'd just put mild steel on and plan to repeat it in a few years if necessary. But that's just me.

Ron

 

[Charolais]

If you ever need to replace them again try and get some used blades off a grader or loader that the highway dept has changed out. I've used some off a Cat loader bucket that were worn down. Just cut them to the size I needed and they work great. I used the same thing for a wood splitter wedge/blade. It's some tough steel.

 

[RonR]

Charolais, your post made me smile. Wife's grandfather, who was a depression era farmer, had cornered the market in his county on USED grader blades. He must have bought them every chance he got as he had close to 100 at the time of his death.

Several times, I offered to build farm stuff for him, such as a kerosene stand for his home heating stove. (He was using a homemade delapidated wooden stand that was wired together.) I measured the tank and told him I'd weld up a stand and he could pay me for the steel and we'd be square. He offered that I take some grader blades to use instead of buying scrap iron.

I hope I didn't laugh, but the thought of cutting and welding grader blades together for a tank stand seemed goofy to me. Instead, I used some 2 x 2 x 1/4 angle. Looked good and was very functional for many years...................

Thanks for the memory!

Ron

 

[Syncro]

Thanks all for the advice. I never thought about getting some used cutting edges, I'll remember that for future use. There are a few excavators around here that have junk piles with lots of that kind of stuff, just never crossed my mind.
I did run the words 'plough steel' through Google and was surprised at so many hits. Seems plow steel does exist and is used mostly for wire rope (cable) as well as dirt ploughs. Never would have suspected that. I guess the term originally came from the first John Deere plough, and in todays world is identified by a certain carbon content. Now whether or not what I bought has that carbon content I guess relies on the scruples of the guy who sold it to me, who I think is a prety reliable guy. Who rerally knows, I guess after a little use I'll have the answer!

 

[Taylortractornut]

A good friend of mine showed me how one contractor saves on teeth for his excavators and loaders in his gravel pit he welds 6 inch sections of 18 wheeler springs to his teeth. instead of paying 85 bucks per tooth to replace in the highly abbrasive conditions. He has had 2 sets of teeth per machine for 6 years. they last about 2 weeks the same as the standard tooth and he does them for 25 dollars a tooth. for wear strips on the bottoms of utility tractor buckets i use pickup truck leaf springs or grader blade strips. All hard steel alloy peices have a spot in the shop, most of my carbide lathe bits come from old wood saws from a wood product shop. I take the torch heat them till the braze liquifies and the carbide falls off then i rebraze onto a chunk of key stock. THeres a millon uses for hardened steel around a welding shop lol.

 

[Bluecheck546]

I think any 4130 or 4140 steel will work , you can get hardened material to 120Ksi (same as grade 8 bolt) if you want it last longer. My 2¢

 

[RICHARDG]

Well,there is a steel called T-1,ASTM # is A514,and it is considered in the quenched and tempered alloy steel class,with a tensile strength of over 100,000 psi,,so he knew about that,,so he must know some about steel.
Now plow steel,[or steel that you make plows out of],beats me what grade,,,I got a cheap potato plow,,I bet the plow part it self is plain ole mild steel,,don't know??? it might be hardened?I bet regular plows and such are made from a hardened steel of some sort,,,but,looks like if it was plow steel,,than it would have been part of an old plow,,shear part,,think thats the name,,other wise...

If you are planning on welding a piece of this,,if it is a hardened steel,than you got to use a filler to match,,,t-1,,has over 100,00 psi,,so if plow steel is about same,,you would need to use a 10018 rod,[normally you use 7018 on mild steel],and preheat to about 100 degrees.

As far as that spark test,,thats something that maybe blacksmiths used 100 years ago or more and probably didn't work very good then,,they now make alloy analizing machines,small,portable,hand carried,that work with x-rays,but very safe still,,,you just place head of it on metal,,give it a few seconds,,and it will give you the perticular combination of elements in the steel,,you can then look up that info in astm books or where ever,and know what you got. thingy

 

[Charolais]

RonR most anyone that lived through that time (depression era) was very thrifty. They had to be. My Dad is going on 84 next April. When the era came about for equality he said the depression era was the best equalizer the country ever had. He said they woke up one morning and everyone was equal. No one had a pot to pee in. /forums/images/graemlins/ooo.gif As a child he said they didn't know they were poor though. Because everyone was poor. At least in this area.

I guess I took after the rest of that side of the family. I just checked my cows and stopped at an old tobacco packing house and took a look inside. I still have 6 pieces of the bucket blades in there. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif It's hard for me to throw away good stuff. I still have all the old two horse turning plows. (We used mules.) All the horse drawn baby AC plows and the horse drawn 3 shank cultivators. Got one double shovel and two single shanks for running a buzzard wing in the middles. Even have one left hand baby AC for laying by tobacco.

On back in the 50's we use to get those motor grader blades to replace the road blade for the tractor when it wore out. Had a lot of terraces on the farm then. Didn't take long to round those ends off keeping those terraces up in good shape.

It's always been a challenge for me to make something out of some one else's junk. I'm cheap. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif I built a hay slinger/unroller in 1985. It all came from the scrap yard except for the hyd. motor and the lines. It'll be 20 years old next year and has never let me down. Might have to put new hoses on it this year.

Sorry to get off the topic but I did enjoy hearing about your wife's grandfather. I thought it deserved a reply. Thanks for the story.