Hello Gents, first post but ive been reading quite a lot over the past months and thought perhaps its better to join and ask questions directly rather than hoping google will find someone who has posted the same sort of question as me.
Ive fancied bulding a good metal workbench/welding table for some time, but you always hear from people making them advise, "shell out for the bigest thickest piece of plate you can afford for the top". Makes sense, i want not only something to weld on, but a bit of a workhorse i can hammer on too. I was recently at an auction where i got some surplus guillotine blades. They are about 3/4 inch thick, around 4 or 5 inches wide and 14 feet long each. i got 2 of those, and another two that are 8ft long. These are blades for hydraulic shear guillotines, with holes drilled in them every few inches.
I got them at a really good price,, i mean REALLY good. My thought was, cut them into approx 2ft lengths and have a moveable slat type worktop where i can unbolt and shift slats for clamping around. But then it occured to me, these are new blades.albeit with a little surface tarnishing from sitting in a shed for years, but still new. Would it be worthwhile selling them and just buy plate with proceeds, i suspect theyre expensive new, and maybe its an awful waste cuttign them up as theyre probably a very good tool steel. What would you good people do?
Ive fancied bulding a good metal workbench/welding table for some time, but you always hear from people making them advise, "shell out for the bigest thickest piece of plate you can afford for the top". Makes sense, i want not only something to weld on, but a bit of a workhorse i can hammer on too. I was recently at an auction where i got some surplus guillotine blades. They are about 3/4 inch thick, around 4 or 5 inches wide and 14 feet long each. i got 2 of those, and another two that are 8ft long. These are blades for hydraulic shear guillotines, with holes drilled in them every few inches.
I got them at a really good price,, i mean REALLY good. My thought was, cut them into approx 2ft lengths and have a moveable slat type worktop where i can unbolt and shift slats for clamping around. But then it occured to me, these are new blades.albeit with a little surface tarnishing from sitting in a shed for years, but still new. Would it be worthwhile selling them and just buy plate with proceeds, i suspect theyre expensive new, and maybe its an awful waste cuttign them up as theyre probably a very good tool steel. What would you good people do?