What kind of pipe was I trying to weld today?

[Shammy]

OK, some of you folks familiar with the pipe people used to use for cattle corrals and such, see if you can tell me what kind of pipe I was trying to weld on today. A friend wanted to weld one of those cattle grabber things, the kind that locks around their neck and holds them in place while you do whatever you need to do to them, to the end of a corral that was made from some kind of pipe that I have never seen before. It was about 4" outside diameter with about 3/16" to 1/4" wall thickness, and rusted like ****.

The guys brother had tried to weld this thing to the end of the corral posts with a piece of thin, less than 1/8", galvanized angle iron bolted to the grabber. He had only been able to get a thick blob to stick between the angle and the pipe. When the cow hit the grabber, it broke loose. So did all ****, but that's another story, LOL. It looked like the weld metal held together and jerked a chunk out of the end of the pipe. It almost looked like cast iron.

The guy said someone told them when they bought the place that the corral was made from some kind of oilfield pipe and he says he thinks the guy said it was "magnetized" pipe. That doesn't make sense so it must be another term besides "magnetized". It certainly isn't "galvanized", so any other terms sound like this?

I managed to get a pretty good bead between the pieces using 6011 at 100 amps on his ancient Lincoln buzz box with it's electrode holder that came over on the Mayflower. No insulation on the top of the holder and it stuck to the work twice when I accidentally hit it while trying to weld in a tight place.

Anyway, any help would be appreciated because I certainly don't have any faith in the strength of what I did today.

Shammy

[hankj]

Well, the rust tells you it's iron or steel. I can't imagine anyone building a corral out of cast iron, so my guess is mild steel. Tap it with the ball end of a ball-pien hammrhoid. "Dunk" - it's cast. "Bing" - it's steel. Hit it with a grinder. That'll tell ya something - watch the sparks.

Anyway, if you got a bead with 6011, it's not "mystery metal"!

Hank

[Zrexxer]

Drill stem will sometimes get magnetized during the drilling operation, so that's probably what they meant. But , I've never heard of drill stem that big - seems like usually it's 2-3/8? I'm guessing 4" would be a casing.

And I don't wanna know what Hank's been doing with his hammer if he's got ball-pein hemorrhoids!

[Shammy]

LOL, yeah, ball-pien hammroids are a *****! Is casing pipe mild steel or something else?

Shammy

[bcraytor]

That thingy that goes around the cows neck is a headgate. Once you have confidence that the welds will hold maybe we can run Hank through it and get the vet to take care of those ball-peen-hemoroids. Let me get away before you let him out of the gate though!!!

[James D. Clark]

It could be old cast iron drill casing or sewer pipe. I've seen some old clothes line posts that sound like that. Real rough looking surface? Old-old stuff that's been around from many years ago. If you don't mind breaking a chunk off an end take a big hammer to it and see what happens. If it's cast it will break. If it bends then it's steel. If it's cast you can cut it with a cold chisel by going around it with the chisel and hammer until it breaks into two. If you need to attach it to other pipe you need some pipe straps to bolt it together.

[Shammy]

That sounds like it, Jim Bee. Very rough surface with lots of rust and pits. It does look like some sort of cast metal to my inexperienced eyes, as the chunk that came off with the weld bead was sort of crystalline looking. Definitely did not look like mild steel being broken off!

Shammy

[James D. Clark]

I think I would get some steel tubing and replace that stuff. An old cow could probably bust right through anything that gives. Chasing cattle that know you want them is not the way to spend any time.