I have seen a bunch of great tips for field testing materials on here, but haven't seen a thread dedicated to just that. Is there one that I just haven't found or can we start one now?
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I have seen a bunch of great tips for field testing materials on here, but haven't seen a thread dedicated to just that. Is there one that I just haven't found or can we start one now?
or a sticky that we can add info to
what do you mean by field testing materials ?
Testing stuff in the field.
For example, stainless scratches aluminum but aluminum doesn't scratch stainless.
I'm sure we all run into things occasionally and can't identify them. Sadly I can't always have more than a magnet on me.
How about a small grinding wheel attachment for your cordless drill?
Here is my field test, if it looks like metal then I take it home. Test-passed.
metal = Test-passed happy
im with you on that one happy
Maybe I didn't explain myself right. Sometimes I find myself at a flea market, yard sale or a place along those lines and wonder if I should buy something. People frown upon you taking a grinding wheel to something you may not buy. Everyday (thanks to this forum mostly) I have a better idea of what my return on investment can be. The more tricks you have up your sleeve though, the better off you are.
Get a keychain magnet, or get a few hard drive magnets and stick 'em on your truck. This way I always have a magnet nearby wherever I go.
On a side note magnets work great to hold a strap snug so you can go to the other side and cinch it up.
i keep a p38 on my keyring, a hard drive magnet sticks to it so i always have a magnet with me wherever i go
magnetic ring on your finger.
Yea, that way every time you pull out your credit card, you wipe all the info off of it,,,lolQuote:
Originally Posted by copycat
You can do the same with a magnet or a cell phone. :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Mechanic688
I've mentioned before my wife is a manager at one of the hotels here on my sandbar, and you don't know how many times I've herd her come home an tell me about the 45 people she had to rekey into rooms. 30 of those 45 were repeat offenders..3 or 4 times they did it before they stopped putting the **** key card under their cell phone. LOL.
Sirscrapalot - Save a can, hug a scrapper.
A small hammer, wrench, multitool, etc. could be used to tap things, to identify by the ring, thud, or other sound.
I never thought of identifying by sound. I will have to pay a little more attention to that.Quote:
Originally Posted by charn
I was just being a smart##s in my first post. Holedigger, you are right people would get upset if you took a grinder to there lamps to see if they are brass or aluminum and a magnet does not work. Now if your looking for gold or silver you just have to look for the markings. I have had good luck with buying brass lamps at yard sales, one time I bought a lamp for 2.00 and got 5# of clean yellow brass.
A broken end of the metal will give a better indication of the metal than cutting thru it with sidecutters.
ie, when you cut thru metal with sidecutters etc, it smears the outer metal across the face of the metal.
Say, tin coated brass or copper. Cut thru it with side cutters & what you see is the tin coating smeared over the brass/copper face.
So, nip the metal with the sidecutters, then twist it back & forth untill it breaks & you will see the parent metal & also the crystal structure of the metal itself.
Works with sheet metal, cast metal & most importantly Copper wire, against varnish coated Ali wire.(which looks the same)