After getting prices from everyone who handles steel within driving distance I had almost given up. I was driving past our local water well drillers shop and saw what I though was a whole bunch of 3 inch pipe out beside the building. It turned out to be drill steels, the rods they use to turn the drill head.
After several tries I finally caught him at the shop yesterday and asked him about them. He told me they were 25"long and weighed #180. They were from his old well drilling rig and someone was planning on buying all or most of them for their rig but they had not shown up. I asked him how much and he said $50 each.
I asked him if I bought 3 would he cut one in half for me and he said he would so I paid him for 3. When I told him what I wanted them for he said if I made them together tight they would never come apart and he promised they wouldn't break or bend. Long story short, I spent the day today getting them home. Took me the better part of the day but it didn't cost me anything but time.
These are the two full steels and th 1 cut in half. I tied them to the tree and drove the car trailer out from under them.
This is the thread setup that is used to attach up to 50 0f them together while drilling a well. As it was explained to me, the tapered thread acts much like the taper that is used to hold the chuck in a lathe. Once it is tight it takes several times as much power to take them apart.
I lucked out again since he had 2 different types. These have a 1/2" wall and are not completely impossible to handle. The others he had had a 1" wass and weighed twice as much.
My plan is to set one in concrete and anchor it to use as a lift pole for the tower. The tower will be 1-1/2 put together for a total of 37-1/2 feet, hinged at the base of the lift pole. I will then couple the poles together. I have a feeling that with guys at 24 feet I will have more than enough support.
