One mans trash...

[phrygianradar]

As they say, "One mans trash is another mans treasure", boy did I find a nice treasure today! I found a piece of extremly thin metal 10cm wide and 75cm long. It was from a band sealer at my work. Apperantly it snapped and just got tossed in the trash. This stuff is the same thickness (thinness?) as a Peterson mini knife, except instead of being 18 bucks for 1 1/2 inches, I got over 60 inches for free! Plus I can cut it into whatever shape I want for shims or just use it like the mini knife (it works, I tried it) and I don't have to worry about bending or breaking it because I have a lot. Very cool find.

[Squelchtone]

Oh yes, here is a picture of it.

http://i1358.photobucket.com/albums/q765/Nathaniel_Schantz/2013-04-08_15-18-15_258_zpse93a1912.jpg

[easy-e]

Great find! I think you mean 10mm wide, not 10cm.

[phrygianradar]

Good call easy-e! It's been a long Monday... Yes, mm, not cm. My mistake.

[maintenanceguy]

The same material is available here:

http://www.mcmaster.com/#strapping-components/=m8lytp

I prefer band saw blades. Available in almost unlimited widths and thicknesses, you can get them as long as you want them (more picks) and they are both hard and flexible at the same time.

[easy-e]

The same material is available here:

http://www.mcmaster.com/#strapping-components/=m8lytp

I prefer band saw blades. Available in almost unlimited widths and thicknesses, you can get them as long as you want them (more picks) and they are both hard and flexible at the same time.

Steel strapping is totally different than the spring steel bandsaw blades are made out of. Here are the listings for coiled spring steel like OP has. http://www.mcmaster.com/#standard-sprin ... ts/=m8xntl

[phrygianradar]

The same material is available here:

http://www.mcmaster.com/#strapping-components/=m8lytp

I prefer band saw blades. Available in almost unlimited widths and thicknesses, you can get them as long as you want them (more picks) and they are both hard and flexible at the same time.

Steel strapping is totally different than the spring steel bandsaw blades are made out of. Here are the listings for coiled spring steel like OP has. http://www.mcmaster.com/#standard-sprin ... ts/=m8xntl

Actually, I did a little research on what exactly these bands are, and they turned out to be made of a magnesium alloy. They are for a Rovema sealing machine and are extremely expensive. I told everyone I work with that if they ever get damaged and/or have to be cut off, to give them to me. Our machine operator threw it away and the maintenance dept. was p.o.'d to put it lightly. Thankfully I didn't receive any of the blame, but it was a great score. I cut my fingers up really badly after cutting a piece off though, and I didn't even notice until I was bleeding all over. Very thin, very strong, very cool.