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Seeing more junk steel in my scrap pile lately
I've noticed a big increase in contaminated steel from recycling centers. It's got coatings and alloys that don't work for forging. This ruined a gate hinge I was making last week. Always inspect your metal carefully before heating it up!
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hugo_cooper1mo ago
Seriously, what are they putting in the scrap mix these days, leftover soda cans and bad welds? My last piece fizzed and sparked like a fourth of July dud when I heated it. I had to toss a whole batch of potential knife stock because it was mostly paint and mystery alloy. Makes you wonder if we're recycling or just collecting fancy trash.
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theas9423d ago
Ugh, tell me about it. My last haul had what looked like a solid steel bar, but it turned out to be some zinc-based thing coated in truck bed liner (the smell was awful). It just melted into a puddle and ruined my forge lining. Feels like half the stuff I pick up now is just garbage dressed up as metal. Sorting through it all adds so much extra time, and you still get burned.
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