[TheForge] Sodium filled valves

[PlumDon at aol.com]

In a message dated 1/22/2009  7:59:30 A.M. Eastern Standard Time, 
munlaw2 at hcsmail.com writes:
4. Does  anyone have any first hand knowledge of misadventures involving
sodium-filled  valves?

With nearly tons of good tool steel readily available from flea  markets and 
elsewhere in the forms of star drills, punches, chisels, axe heads,  etc., 
there seems little purpose in dealing with suspect parts. One auto coil  spring 
will give you 8' of decent 5160 or some similar good steel that will  yield 
more punches and chisels then you will likely use in your lifetime if they  are 
done right. Tool steel that is probably better than anything our forebear  
blacksmiths used is readily available most anywhere. I have hundreds of pounds  of 
it that I have picked up for nothing that I will likely never use in my  
rapidly diminishing lifetime. I would not spend too much time fooling with items  
that are questionable and not already close to the shape of what I would make  
from it. 

I'm assuming that many of you out there have readily picked up  most all the 
good tool steel you use at little or no cost. Is that not  true?

Don Plummer  

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