Farm machinery steel grade question--for the welding guys

I've a question about the type of steel used in disk harrows...those things that cultivate soil with a bunch of 16-24" round steel disks that are cupped a little, kinda like the shape of a dinner plate.

They've gotta be harder than the hinges of h*ll, since they take a shzt kicking with all the abrasion and hitting rocks in the field. I've seen some that have broken sections out of them, so they must be a bit brittle, also suggesting hard.

I'm contemplating a project with my son to take one of these disks and machine it down some in diameter to make a fertilizer spreader, using the disk as the spinner. It will have to have paddles bolted or welded to it, too. We want the curved shape the disk has which is hard to make out of plain mild steel plate.

Does anyone have any experience with working with these disks to know what they made of? Can they even be welded?


Thanks,
Jon.

I would think Gustavus is a good person to talk to.

Simple answer. You shouldent have any issues welding on em. They are a hardened steel. That is why they will crack or snap, rather than bend. For what it sounds like you are doing it should work awesome.

I should add that hardened steel can be a pain to weld, but for what you are doing the loads will have low stress on them just keep an eye on em because they may crack.

You probably need 12018 welding rod for something like that.

Using 7018 is too soft .
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