Learn Me: Cutting Thick Hardened Steel In The Field

I'd call your local industrial scrap yard and have them come and pick them up from you. Then spend the money on new steel delivered. 

Those should winch right onto a rollback type tow truck and with some help from a chain to an anchor point (Tree or good sized car) slide off again at your place.  Stick a license plates on them and maybe you can get AAA to pay for the tow.  (just kidding on the last part)

So, the chorus of voices calling for me to abandon this idea caused me to do a bit of a reality check on myself. So, I did some research.

There are many knife making steels. The main quality that you're looking for is the ability to harden the knife so it is capable of holding an edge. 52100 is one of the cheaper alloys, but the cheapest I could find it was about $5/lb for round bars. This seems like a fairly comparable product since anybody using round stock is forging their knife. If I cut open the outside race I will have access to at least 100 (but possibly many more) 2" balls which weigh about 1.2lbs a piece. Even if I took the rest of the material to a scrap yard for tonnage, it seems like that would be worth my time. 

I also think that the balls are worth more to me than the round stock would be. On an objective level, this steel is likely processed to a much higher purity than anything I would normally have access to. On a subjective level, stories sell hand crafted goods. Telling someone you got the steel for their $500 knife from a knife supply store is not terribly interesting. Telling them about the 6ft diameter bearing that you cut up to get incredibly high purity steel strikes me as vastly more interesting, nevermind the fact that you're recycling components that were used to make renewable energy for something like 7 years. 

I think I'll plan on renting a saw and get both diamond and abrasive blades and seeing how it goes with each.

In reply to white_fly :

I'd call that pretty freaking awesome.  Good luck!  Let us know how it goes.

In reply to white_fly :

Wait!  I see that you're in Tampa.  This sounds like something I'd love to help and cry over.  Want me to come down?

Trailer winch and drag it up in one piece? Roll by the local scrap yard and see if they have a shear. 

If they are already cracked, someone missed the heat treatment once already. Makes me wonder what alloy it is. 

can we have a Fly In ?

yeah the ball bearings are the interesting twist and make it more worth the  trouble , 

where is the "order form"  for a box of ball bearings ?

In reply to white_fly :

knife blanks of 1084 are pretty cheap.. it's easy to work with and hardenable..    https://www.alphaknifesupply.com/shop/1084-carbon-steel 

I'd just do that.  infact.. I did and have blanks in my garage for a knife I'm making.

In reply to white_fly :

Fyi scrap is basically worthless right now, so don't count on much repayment for your saw rental and blades.  If prices down there are like up here, each 3,000 pound bearing is a whole $54

Stampie (FS) said:

In reply to white_fly :

Wait!  I see that you're in Tampa.  This sounds like something I'd love to help and cry over.  Want me to come down?

I am in Tampa, but there are no wind turbines nearby. This job site is in Indiana. You're still welcome to come help. I'll give you a ride in the Jag 

In reply to Toyman01 (Moderately Supportive Dude) :

I'm not really sure why these are cracking. The cracks are small, the bearings have lasted a long time, and the company that designed the turbines has been known to do a less than perfect job.

In reply to californiamilleghia :

If you'd like one or a few, send me a pm. I will have many more than I know what to do with.

Fueled by Caffeine said:

In reply to white_fly :

knife blanks of 1084 are pretty cheap..

I absolutely understand that. This is not at all about making knives in the cheapest or easiest way. It is about doing something fun that isn't a *complete* waste of time.

I've enjoyed reading the ideas on this thread. I hope you end up going out in the field and trying to "harvest the balls", heh. One thing I might suggest is that you try and plan ahead for what happens as you succeed in cutting into the outer race. Will the balls come out easily? Will the weight of the races or the way the bearing assembly is stored cause the balls to bind up? Will things go well for 1/3-2/3rd of the balls and then things start to bind up? In other words can you plan ahead and have some gear ready in case of "ball bindage".

Good luck!

Mr_Asa said:

In reply to white_fly :

You should also be able to hire a roll back wrecker and get them to pull the rings up on the bed of the truck and have them drop them wherever you like.  Probably able to get two, maybe three on the bed at a time

You'd probably be a lot more productive cutting them up at your shop/garage rather than in the field

In reply to Mr_Asa :

A rollback wrecker is an interesting option, but it's definitely not free and I'd almost certainly still have to rent the emergency saw to make manageable chunks for whatever turns out to be the best way to do the bulk of the cutting.

In reply to Sparkydog :

I'm almost sure the balls will come out very easily. The design of a slewing bearing like this typically only has small guides between the individual balls and each race holds slightly less than half the ball.

Sorry, I've got no better ideas for getting any of the steel, but if you have access to about 100 2" hardened steel balls, are you sure you don't want to make a small cannon to fire those balls?  I'm not sure how the government would feel about this, but it would be damn cool. :) 

In reply to Schmidlap :

If it's a historical replica firing black powder, its fine..  Saw many cannons launch baby food jars filled with concrete.  

white_fly said:

This job site is in Indiana. You're still welcome to come help. I'll give you a ride in the Jag 

Fowler?

In reply to STM317 :

A bit closer to Goodland, but damn close.

If the goal now is the get the balls out, can you just take them out the same way they were put in? Should there be a plug or something where they slid the balls in between the races?

Schmidlap said:

Sorry, I've got no better ideas for getting any of the steel, but if you have access to about 100 2" hardened steel balls, are you sure you don't want to make a small cannon to fire those balls?  I'm not sure how the government would feel about this, but it would be damn cool. :) 

Black powder cannons are a legal, but expensive, hobby. But still cheaper than messing with cars...

You can just buy 1" M50 steel bearing balls from McMaster Carr for $20some dollars each.  Your free time, sanity, and tool rental avoidance is certainly worth more than that.  If you can get them from McMaster for $20 you can get them from anywhere else for $10.  

Also are they okay with you cutting up their mess leaving a bigger mess behind, or do you have to dispose of the whole mess by the time your done? Seems like a headache.