Generally, are nails made from suitable steel to make knives, flint strickers, etc, from? Have a bucket load of old rusty nails and wondered what to do with them...just a trip to the dump?
Old nails
- Thread starter mattburgess
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i have made a few things like fish hooks and barbed spear heads (for fishing) from old nails i find in the fireplace after burning old rafter wood. the ones i use are probably a fairly high carbon steel and if yours are rusted then i doubt they are stainless steel so they will be some kind of carbon steel. they might only be mild steel though.
if you want to properly make a knife then: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/01-TOOL-STEEL..._Supplies_ET?hash=item20af49ec94#ht_500wt_975
if you want to properly make a knife then: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/01-TOOL-STEEL..._Supplies_ET?hash=item20af49ec94#ht_500wt_975
I'd say your better off going to http://www.cromwell.co.uk to get O1, its cheaper and you can choose your size. Its listed as ground flat stock > http://www.cromwell.co.uk/category_page/160202
On the nail front, I have seen a few people make basic knives from hammered out nails, not sure how practical they were though as they were very thin.
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I liked the episode where Ray mear's used hawthorn thorns to make fishing hooks and ended up catching flounders with them in the river thames. It was never made clear though wether he released them or not....
I would of thought mild steel would be too soft for a fish hook as it would straighten easy under the stress of a decent fish. A masonary nail is tougher steel though, they might be workable
I would of thought mild steel would be too soft for a fish hook as it would straighten easy under the stress of a decent fish. A masonary nail is tougher steel though, they might be workable
robin wood
Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
I agree, masonry nails are the only ones with significant carbon content and a random collection of rusty nails is unlikely to have many masonry nails amongst them. Rusty old nails good for little I am afraid.
Good for adding to vinegar to make a black leather stain ir putting under hydrangias to turn the flowers from pink to blue....can't think of much else legal....
that's got me wondering now John!
If you can fireweld then you could turn them into a knife, assuming that you have some decent steel to put in as well
Not much use really, at least I can't think of anything constructive.
If you can fireweld then you could turn them into a knife, assuming that you have some decent steel to put in as well
I'm surprised at you Dave, what about carburizing a bit of the welded-up billet? :-D
if you want a small blade put em on a train track let the trains go over them sharpen one side you got yourself a small blade works for me anyways alot less work then trying to pound em down....
Trespass on the railway is a serious offence in this country.
Pounding them flat is a lot easier if you apply heat first
LOL I love that Will hay comedy Oh mr Porter, where Will's watch gets put on the railway track, and it somehow gets run over-by a train. They all rush to the scene, the old guy picks up the remains, puts it to his ear, pauses for a second then says "its stopped" :You_Rock_
:You_Rock_
that's got me wondering now John!
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It involves aluminium and big bangs...or just welding!
You MITE get a couple of THERMs out of the mix....
SimonM
Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
from your days as a militant hippy? Naughty fella
have to admit that I've been meaning to play with some for ages, but in a productive steel making fashion
Trespass on the railway is a serious offence in this country.
Pounding them flat is a lot easier if you apply heat first
you could use the level crossing bit , then you can,t be prosecuted for tresspass !!
another thing that makes it suck to live in the UK....guess I shouldn't be to surprised....next thing is will be a crime to get out of bed at all...LOL....
Sadly, the actions of the 'Cone People' gave a bad name to those in the UK whom liked to put things on train tracks...
from your days as a militant hippy? Naughty fella
have to admit that I've been meaning to play with some for ages, but in a productive steel making fashion
Learned it from "Rough Science" on the BBC!
We're in a much smaller country here Bill. If kids see adults trespassing on the tracks they tend to do it, similarly we get them running across level crossings when the barriers are down etc. We also have trains running almost at capacity on every line, so trains can be as often as every 10 minutes (maybe less in places)
Here's one from where I live: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFsa3kB5FP8
Train drivers have to report anyone not wearing hi-vis or not properly acknowledging trains etc. This can effectively close the line.
Plus a lot of our lines are electrified, you can get pretty seriously injured if you don't know what you're doing - even without touching a third rail or overhead.
I know this, because I work on the railway...
OK so people are wanting to be a part of the Darwin theory no loss to the rest of us...
http://www.darwinawards.com/
http://www.darwinawards.com/
