Hard window weights

metallurgical

Grant,

Just throw them into a good hot fire in the the woodstove and then let em cool with the ashes.

The only important property of a sash weight is weight. So they're cast from the cheapest iron-like material the foundry can buy. Since there isn't much margin in sash weights, they're also cast as cheaply as possible. That usually means they're cast in permanent chilled molds. So you get a chilled cast iron of uncertain composition that's usually harder than the hammers of hell.

Gary

Oooo! Oooo! Use them for hammers!!! ;-)

Tim

-- "I've got more trophies than Wayne Gretsky and the Pope combined!" - Homer Simpson Website @

Dang. Then...(use 'em for grit! Anyone for crushed iron? ;o) There's iron in there, somewhere. I wonder what a good cupola operator could do with some window weight stock.

Tim

-- "I've got more trophies than Wayne Gretsky and the Pope combined!" - Homer Simpson Website @

Scrap dealer was real happy to get the 350 lbs I had. Got all of $6.25 for the bunch last year, but got them out of the garage, which was the aim. Several broke when hurling them onto the pile, lots of giant gas bubbles in them. I wouldn't recommend them for any purpose involving mechanical properties other than weight. No telling what elements are contaminating the stuff, I wouldn't mix them in with other scrap if I were running a cupola. My dad and I tried turning one one time when we first got the lathe, lots of screeching, dulled the bit, didn't even disturb the rust. My batch will probably come back as part of a Harbor Freight lathe or drill-mill.

Stan