Hi Kui,
Unless they’re masonry nails, they’re mild steel. (won’t harden) No
good for punches except for very limited use. Masonry nails are
toolsteel, and make great punches.
FWIW,
Brian
In general the steel in nails isn't that good for a stamp, you could use them, but you'd need to use a super quench mixture, and even then the heat treatment doesn't last.
Super quench will work on larger stock but I think you will not be
able to easily get something as small as a nail into the quench fast
enough. It will likely cool off to below the transition temp that
you need for super quench before you can immerse it.
James Binnion
James Binnion Metal Arts
Hi James,
Super quench will work on larger stock but I think you will not be able to easily get something as small as a nail into the quench fast enough. It will likely cool off to below the transition temp that you need for super quench before you can immerse it.
You can do it, but it’s really not worth it. Black spring washers
are a good source of cheap steel that can make excellent punches.
Regards Charles A.
P.S. Also makes a nice present if you turn a black spring washer
into a short scribe. Make the point round section, keep the body
square section, then do a counter twist… a nice useful present,
they look cool too 
For cut nails to make stamps from see:
The thread that wouldn’t die…;} I understand that some people
are just toying around with things. I also understand that some
people are downright poor, in terms of buying materials and tools.
Been there, done that, for both things. Scrounging metal can give
you pretty OK results if you know a bit and get lucky. The spark
test posted here the other day is THE standard way to ID steel
without chemical analysis. I can usually tell tool steel from mild
just by handling it, though I can’t ID the actual alloy or type.
Steel is cheap, if you are buying it, though. If you are at all
serious, or making a set of chasing tools or a series of stamps, I’d
strongly urge you to buy it for real. Nails are hardened (requiring
annealing), that type of nails tend to be prertty misshapen, and
they actually cost MORE money. Allen wrenches (hex keys, properly)
are better but they’re also hardened and comparatively expensive.
At onlinemetals [ OnlineMetals.com® | Buy Metal Online | No Minimums or Cut Fees! ] 3/8"
O1 drill rod is $17.08 for 3 three footlengths. That’s 27 4" tools.
Less than a buck apiece… And it comes professionally annealed,
and it’s brand new, squeaky clean steel. And you know what it is.
Online metals is a fine company, too.
A look at Ebay/business and industrial/manufacturing and
metalworking/metals and alloys (that’s not a link, it’s just the path
- no Ebay links on Orchid) is often even cheaper. Search that
category for O1 or W1 or just tool steel and you’ll get all sorts of
deals, mostly from dealers. Today there’s a 9" piece of 3/8" drill
rod for $7 w/shipping… Do it up right…
Hi Charles,
What’s a black spring washer, and where does one find one?
Larry Heyda
Hi Larry,
What's a black spring washer, and where does one find one?
A black spring washer is a spring washer that is not coated with
zinc or some other galvanising solution. Sometimes they are called
black split washers (it seems to be different from country to
country).
Basically an open jump ring made from spring steel, usually made
with square section wire. The open ended ones are better than the
closed ones, as you simply heat them up and straighten them.
You would find them at industrial fastener supply stores, there are
plenty of online stores.
The last box I bought contained 100 washers, and cost me about $10.
One washer straightened gave me a piece of spring steel 5mm square by
100mm long.
Regards Charles A.
The thread that wouldn't die.....;}
You’re right, guess there’s enough interest in it to keep it going
Scrounging metal can give you pretty OK results if you know a bit and get lucky.
True, but some metal can “only” be scrounged, and you definitely
need to know what you’re looking for.
I wouldn’t say that only a people that scrounge do it for financial
reasons. I don’t toy around (well… not all the time ), and
I’ve got money to buy the highest grade tool steels.
Sometimes for me it’s about turning one thing into something else.
So far this has been for blacksmith items such as fire pokers,
swords, knives, chisels, other tools etc. where I like to keep a
portion of the original item untouched. I’m working on modifying an
antique spanner into a nice knife with a pattern welded blade… the
claw on part of the spanner has cracked, and I intend to fill this
with sterling silver.
I hope to be able to do the same with jewellery
I digress, if you can make a useful tool, out of anything, whether
that’s a mild steel nail super quenched, or a piece of tool steel
that costs $200 for 300mm, that’s a win
Regards Charles A.
I am trying to make some stamps with drill rod from Fastenal.com. It
is a mild carbon steel for drill bits, and hopefully it will last. It
cost about $1.00 per foot, for 3/8" stock. After annealing it seems
to work up fine, have not heat treated any stamps yet, thusly have
not tempered them yet. My problems usually come from my lack of
artistic ability. I have already made a knife blade with it, and have
been waiting for any bad comments from the buyer. But, no news is
usually good news!
Dave Leininger
Hi Gang,
Basically an open jump ring made from spring steel, usually made with square section wire. The open ended ones are better than the closed ones, as you simply heat them up and straighten them.
Based on the description of the ‘spring washer’ I’d say that what
you’re looking for in the US is called a ‘lock washer’.
They’re put between the nut & whatever the bolt the nut is attached
to to prevent it from coming unscrewed due to vibration…
Generally in the US lock washers are silver or steel in color.
Slightly yellow (cadmium plated) or other colors can also be found.
Dave
At onlinemetals [ http://www.ganoksin.com/gnkurl/onlinemetals ] 3/8" O1 drill rod is $17.08 for 3 three footlengths. That's 27 4" tools. Less than a buck apiece...
Again, I must highly recommend that you try center punch sets, which
I now get from Widget Supply. You’ll get different sizes in a very
useful format, with the addition of a knurled shaft for easy holding-
also about a buck a piece, and you don’t have to cut up a rod.
Allan
Sometimes for me it's about turning one thing into something else. So far this has been for blacksmith items such as fire pokers, swords, knives, chisels, other tools etc. where I like to keep a portion of the original item untouched.
I’m not going to argue with Charles because what he says is true.
I’ll tell a bit of a story (deafening roar: not again!?!?!? 
to
show how I’m coming from another place.
I started making jewelry for a living in 1971 - no internet, no web,
no personal computers, in fact. I knew how to harden and temper
steel because people had shown me how, but I had no idea of WHAT was
going on. It was just “do this, then do that”. Back then, if you
wanted to buy steel, you had to know just what you wanted (well, you
still need that), and drive up to a gigantic steel warehouse out on
the outskirts of town, after you found where it was at all, that is.
Then you had to go into this cavern and speak to a man at the giant
counter in this foreign language that I, for one, didn’t know. All
while people who DO know are waiting for the idiot (me) to get out
the #$%^& way. There’s no showcases, you order it and they bring it
out to you. I might as well have been the moon, to me. So what I did
for a long time was what other people do, too. I used hex keys,
scrap steel that I knew was tool steel, and nails that often didn’t
work at all anyway. Simply put, going into that world with the tiny
knowlege I had scared the heck out of me, and I just never did. Not
to mention you had to buy $500 in most places.
Thing is, it’s not like that anymore. If you want to do some
found-object thing, like Charles, then fine. If you just want steel,
go to any of several places online and there’s all the specs and
info, you add what you want to your shopping cart and it’s comes
UPS. In small or large quantities. No muss, no fuss, nothin’ to be
skeert of. O1 will make all the jewelry stamps you could ever want.
It’s cheap.
Also cheap and available by the pound at any real hardware store. I
anneal mine before I start forming tools.
RC
Then you had to go into this cavern and speak to a man at the giant counter in this foreign language that I, for one, didn't know. All while people who DO know are waiting for the idiot (me) to get out the #$%^& way. There's no showcases, you order it and they bring it out to you. I might as well have been the moon, to me.
John, thank you for this story. It’s good to hear I’m not the only
one with such experiences and reactions. Take your story (which was
the same whether I wanted metal vent hose, blowers, a transformer for
neon tubing, or any other industrial part I needed for art work) and
add on that I am a woman, thus assumed, in that context, to be out of
my element (true) and incompetent (less true). Of course, that did
cut both ways… Back in those days, when I was a pretty
20-something, they may have thought I was an idiot, but they still
had a certain inclination to hang around and help me.
Much better now, when the all-boy nature of such things has sprung
leaks; the bad economy forces people who want to sell something to be
less rude; and as you point out, you can shop at leisure and in
anonymity in front of the computer. No sceptical neanderthal asking
“What do you want to do with it?” when he isn’t going to understand
or believe the answer anyway.
Noel
Take your story (which was the same whether I wanted metal vent hose,
blowers, a transformer for neon tubing, or any other industrial part
I needed for art work) and add on that I am a woman, thus assumed, in
that context, to be out of my element (true) and incompetent (less
true).
Noel, you’re certainly not the only one with such experiences and
reactions. This year I’ve been working with bread, hair, bone, wood
and zinc. I’ve encountered a lot of blank stares. Also, when my
husband is with me, I ask the questions (I’m the artist) but the
"men" behind the counter keep talking to him … !!!
Linda Savineau