Hello all and thanks for letting me join the forum. Recently joined the leather forum and am thoroughly enjoying seeing the amazing things that can be done by members there. I served my toolmaker apprenticeship in a modern plant but worked almost exclusively with mild steel (1018), titanium, aluminum, O-1 and D-2, and the various stainless steels. No blacksmithing was taught, sorry to say.
I respect and admire the old ways. I would imagine that in frontier America, all steels were "re purposed" as is popular to say now, much like material was quilted from scraps. My wife has her great grandmother's treadle Singer sewing machine from the 1800's on which just this was done. She was an orphaned Cherokee Indian whose parents fell victim to the Trail of Tears. When I look at the machine, I feel a link to our country's past.
I hope to build a very simple home forge this season from a brake drum, piping and a blower. I have access to an anvil and a plunge tank. I would like to use repurposed steel almost exclusively if I can. I have a few worn out German files I can use. I have no clue where in Bowling Green, KY I could buy railroad spikes. However, my son-in-law manages a horse farm and I bet I could get horse shoes from his scrap bin. But are they made of a high-carbon steel that would hold an edge? Or could I try damascus with lamination of a higher carbon steel?
Information sure appreciated. Don