"Tim Williams" wrote in message ...
In case anyone was wondering, rebar is indeed any composition. Tonight I
was forging on some and out of curiosity, cheezily heat treated one end
(brought it to orange heat, quenched, reheated for a little longer than it
took the water to boil off to sorta temper). Took a strike with the hammer
and sure enough it broke. Spark test reveals something like 1040 but it
must have some other alloying elements since it bears some resemblence to
higher alloy steel (wrench stock for instance).

So yes, it's real crappy material. On the other hand. It can be hardened.
What a scary thought, toolbits forged from rebar. Hmmmm. But still........

Tim

I mentioned making something out of some old 1" rebar chunks I had to
an old friend who was a machinist at one time in his life. He told me
that "Rebar is harder than a whore's heart" I have always figured
that that was the result of workhardening from rolling the bumps on
the outside. I guess my question to you is not whether it will harden,
but whether or not heating it to red and letting it cool down will
result in something machinable. I have never tried it.

brownnsharp