Bad Steel

[Stretch]

Does anyone else have this problem? Steel with slag lines in it that show up when you forge it. This picture is in a poker made out of 1" square. In the center when it is octagonal it actually split when I forged it below a red heat. Frustrating. In this piece you can see 4 splits. The center piece that come right apart I cut out and welded it.

[Ryan Wilson]

yep ive ran across this several times. i think you will find that the crack actually runs for most if not all 20 ft. assuming you bought it in a 20ft stick. As for what causes it, i have no idea its just something that happens sometimes. perhaps your steel supplier will refund you for that piece?

[Stretch]

yep ive ran across this several times. i think you will find that the crack actually runs for most if not all 20 ft. assuming you bought it in a 20ft stick. As for what causes it, i have no idea its just something that happens sometimes. perhaps your steel supplier will refund you for that piece?

Thanks Ryan
Most of my steel comes this way and has for quite a few years. I used to send it back, just didn't get any better. Change suppliers, didn't help. I am up in Canada and a lot of our steel comes from china so if I want something different I would have to go far afield. The steel suppliers are shocked when I show them what happens. If you just weld it together nothing shows up. It is when you forge it. I was just wondering if the steel made in the states did this or not. Get tired of fixing it sometimes though. Cold rolled doesn't do it though. It is just to expensive. Thanks

[JNewman]

I have had this happen but the times I have had it happen I blame me not the steel. I had a rupture just like the one you show but I was working the steel far too cold when it split. I was doing the same as you making a poker and I made another with the same steel but made sure I didn't do any major stock movement below a red heat and had no problem.

I have yet to see a MTR with China as a source here, I just looked through a big stack of them and there was only one that was not made in Canada or the US and it was from the Ukraine. Yes there are three steel mills and a cold rolling mill here in town but none of them make hot rolled mild steel rod and bar. I have never seen any of the local mills on an MTR.