Sash weight value

Came across a large bin full of sash weights in a reclaimation yard. Big bin as in 1 meter cubed volume.

After thinking I had found a lifetime source of cast iron rod I asked the price and was told £5 each which put me off at the time. Was still however less than half the price of a cast iron rod of comparable size as from a reputable source.

Would it be worth taking a risk on the weights?

No

Its normally really rubbish stuff full of impurities and voids.

I wouldn't take them even if they were free. May well be the stuff that wasn't good enough for park railings.

Andrew

.

They will be useful for 2 things.

1) Strapping together and using as a boat anchor
2) For using as counter weights in sash windows

There is however a 3rd use and that is for whacking people over the head with. But I think society takes a dim view on things like that.

Nick

I thought you could use them to tie down your glider

They are actually useful to hold tarpaulins down on haystacks etc.

Edited By Robbo on 22/07/2017 16:18:51

I got hold of a half dozen many years ago. Took a slice off one to see what it was like. It was lovely, I thought goody!

Turned out I had cut through the only decent bit out of the whole lot. The rest of it was total rubbish.

£5 for a sash weight... I suppose you could bolt it to the ceiling of your narrowboat...

The trouble with sash weights is that they really are pot luck, no requirement other than 'be heavy' so if done in a hurry they can be chilled horribly and if left to cool slowly (and of reasonable quality iron) they can be very nice.

A few came my way when we replaced some rotten windows.

I tried milling one into a 30mm square rod one to test my scraping abilities on making a small straight edge. The surface was hard, chilled I guess, but once I got through the skin the machining was OK I used a carbide face cutter my mill is old and slow but able to take heavy cuts, no way as easy as Flowcast but doable. If there is a bin full you may be able to pick a thick one they came in many sizes. I would not like to pay a lot for one. The material scraped OK and I got a fair result, there were no voids. A few scratches but they were operator error not the material.

I took the last sash window out of my house about 15 years ago, and the weights turned out to be rubbish - voids and lumps of slag. Eventually chucked them in the metal bin at the local tip- then discovered they were valued by the local lobster men for weighting pots. Perhaps we should start a new thread - 500 things to do with a sash weight?

The latest lot of twenty I bought for 75p each. Four of them were OK and once I'd got the skins of I found some nice stuff to turn with no hard nuts and no blow holes. The rest were diamond hard which resisted my SUMITOMO tips. I could not get under the skin at all. So it's a case of taking a chance and not investing to heavily.

On the other hand, I buy up old scales weights if they are going cheap (great for wheels and flywheels) and so far I have not had a bad'un.

Rik

There is however a 3rd use and that is for whacking people over the head with.

I wouldn't do that. You could jar your wrist!

Tongue placed firmly in cheek!

It is pure luck. I was given 4 just a week ago. Cut into them with the angle grinder, one was good, the rest rubbish, so well worth the price.

Looks like I am sashaying away from that bin then Sadly the last scrap yard in town closed so not much chance of getting them for scrap value.

Is there anything to stop just using an angle grinder to grind off the chilled skin? (apart from excessive labour and time) Is the casting so bad the chill is really deep?

As for a good use, I remember back in California my Dad use to sell them on the cattle boats when he went Rock Cod fishing, it covered the cost of the trip. He would roll a cigarette while walking around the boat seeing what everyone else was using for a weight, then put a sash weight that was marginally heavier on his line. At the first drop, his jigs hit the bottom first, and rarely got tangled as he was winding up the fish while the other lines were still on the way down; the torpedo shape probably helped. Funny thing, he just about always won the jackpot for the most or largest fish. All I ever won was a bout of sea sickness, lol.

We also tried machining the sash weights, but without luck, there seemed to be a lot of slag in them.

I'v used sash weights to make pistons for hot air engines. The best weights to get are 2" or over in diameter, these are less likely to be chilled. I got some smaller ones and I dropped one of them on the concrete floor of the workshop, and it snapped like a carrot, tried it in the lathe with a carbide tip, that was the end of the carbide tip it just bounced off, the other 3 weights were ok, and all the weights(other than the hard one) have been good quality, maybe I'v been lucky.

Ian S C

Not too off-topic I hope but several years ago my neighbours got a new piano and advertised their old upright for sale. Sadly, there were no takers so I eventually volunteered to take it off their hands and dismantle it for the materials.

It had a cast iron frame. I still have some of that in my stash some 45 years later. It machines beautifully. Its cross-section tempts one to cut a suitable length and transform it into the base/frame of an engineer's level but I already have one of those!

The cast iron frame was supported by a frame of 5" x 4" white pine, no knots to be seen anywhere. I carried that with me through several house moves and carefully kept it in dry storage. I never found a use for it so I gave it to a wood-working friend a couple of years ago. I did early-on use the board that supported the tuning pins, that is beech and forms the front apron of my wood-working bench.

The carcase was veneered poplar, not much re-purposing potential there, and the piano wire strings, once removed, were difficult to store. I don't remember what happened to the keyboard.

Please don't label me 'philistine' or 'vandal', we did all try really really hard to find a musical home for that piano!

Best regards,

Swarf, Mostly!

Of late I,v been using the bed of an old domestic sewing machine as a source of good quality cast iron to supliment my supply of old brake discs, and sash weights.

Ian S C