[Shop-talk] Metal for plow blades

[David Scheidt]

> On Dec 18, 2016, at 12:43, eric at megageek.com wrote:
> 
> Maybe someone here can point me to the type of metal I need for a plow blade. 
> 
> I've made them from normal rolled steel and they grind down pretty fast.   Do I need cold rolled, or is there something else I should be using? 
> 
> I have a few one and odd plows that I can't just buy a replacement blade for, so I need to make them (unless there is a good source I can buy premade ones.)  

The plows that tamed the prairies were made by Oliver, using "chilled steel" (really iron, I think ). It was cast with iron heat sinks (later, water cooled) in casting sand adjacent to the parts that needed to be hardened.  That caused them to cool relatively faster and participated carbide out, forming "white iron ". It's hard and brittle. 

Modernly, plows and grading blades and such are similarly hard edges on a more ductile body. They are repaired by depositing hardened welding filler, and ground into shape. 
> 
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