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Are plumbing snakes forgable?
November 19, 2015
6:04 pm
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Dreygan
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So long story short I have a whole lot of plumbing snake coil that is no longer usable for its intended purpose. A friend said "it rusts so it must be some kinda iron or steel". I am suspecting there is going to be a bunch of soft cheap metals in there but just thought I'd check here if anybody knew. I'd like to clean off the rust and try to do a kinda pattern welding with it or something but don't want to screw up my forge or make myself sick.

November 19, 2015
8:26 pm
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Morgan A. Kirk
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I've considered welding springs in the past, and I'll just say how I think one might go about doing it. (This is purely theory.)

Provided that you have some round stock that is fit to nearly the exact diameter of the inside of the spring/coil, it may be possible to stick that in to fill the gap and weld it together. Putting the steel on the inside is also rather necessary to keep it from flopping about like a wet spaghetti noodle when you heat it up.

Make sure to give it a heat or two with some flux and a brush to clean off what junk you can before welding and it might work. When welding, giving it very light taps to simply set the metal might be a smart idea because it probably won't take much force to separate the coil and unwind it.

My Youtube channel: Cave of Skarzs

Just having some fun messing around with whatever I have a mind to do.

November 28, 2015
5:58 am
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billyO
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The intended initial purpose of the snake was to work in a wet, probably corrosive environment, so I'd guess it was probably galvanized.  Even though it's rusted, are you sure the oxidation you see is completely over the pieces or could it be hiding areas that still have galvanization? 
I know there's a chemical that folks use to dissolve the paint before forging if in doubt, at least take this step.  Lungs don't heal quickly.

as always

peace and love

billyO

November 28, 2015
9:16 am
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Morgan A. Kirk
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I've removed galvanization with muriadic acid before; it's sold as concrete etcher/masonry cleaner. Though, the tight areas might not be so easily reached. . .

My Youtube channel: Cave of Skarzs

Just having some fun messing around with whatever I have a mind to do.

December 7, 2015
12:29 am
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Martin Brandt
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I've worked as a plumber in the past, and none  of the drain snakes I ever used were galvanized.  They were med to hi carbon coiled wire.  The rust, unless very bad should be removed by the flux, or converted back to iron in a reducing atmosphere in the forge if fluxed and allowed to soak at welding temp a bit 5-10 min.  Give the flux some time to work at welding temp and tap gently to set weld some.  Flux reheat and soak and go at it a bit harder.  It's going to be a bit of a spaghetti experiment at first to get it all stuck together.  Will be similar to welding chain saw chains, or timing chains, etc.  Lots of air spaces to compact and squeeze to eliminate gaps. Once solid, draw out and fold and weld.  Probably have to fold and weld and draw out several times to eliminate all the voids and get a good solid bar to work with.  I would expect the best way to go would be to cut and tack together several4-6 inch sections, weld the ends up, then weld to a rebar handle, tack the sides in several places, heat and flux well and soak it 5-10 minutes the first time.  Probably smoke and burn off old grunge and oil as well, so open the doors. After it's solidified, you might want to forge on the diamond back to square at welding heat to further eliminate any center voids.   I've never seen any galvanized, but use a cutting torch on a piece and watch for that tell tale burning off of galvanizing and if you see any, give it up.

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