splitter wedge material

[KGTC4D]

Looking for a place in Maine or Eastern Canada to buy a length of wedge material to build a few different wedges.  Any ideas?  thanks for the help. 

[62oliver]

I built a splitter last year, and following the advice of other members on this forum I went to the scrapyard and got a piece of regular mild plate steel 1" thick and about 1 foot square, and a new, good quality disc for the 7" grinder. I spent maybe a little over an hour on it, spilt maybe 10 bush cords with it and there is not a mark on it. And its really easy to touch up if you need to.
I was going to try to make a wedge from some used grader blade I have, but was thankfully pointed in the right direction, the main down side being that hardened steel just is not much fun to work with, i.e. welding, cracking and such.



 

[Pclem]

We've got a couple steel suppliers here that carry cutting edges for skidsteer buckets. The right thickness and edge already beveled on one side. Maybe check with your local steel places

[gspren]

  If buying mild steel plate get hot rolled like A-36, rather than cold rolled which won't be quite as tough. The good news is A-36 is more common anyway but don't just ask for "mild steel". If there is a scrap yard around boiler plate would also work but it's always nice if the welder knows what you got.

[hedgerow]

35 years ago I build a splitter and used a grader blade for the start of the wedge. A welder friend said you shouldn't have used a harden piece of metal it will break. He was right but it took 30 years of hard splitting to break it. Google weld on splitting wedge and you will find a guy out of PA that sells wedges of many lengths and sizes I have purchased several from him and haven't had any problems with them.

[Ivan49]

I used 4140 when I built mine 40 years ago. Has held up very well

[KGTC4D]

thanks for the replies.