Looking for another book, tough challenge

[Starhammer]

Hi again folks. Everybody here was quite helpful last time I was looking for a couple books.

I'm trying to find another one now, and could use some more help.

Here's what makes this interesting... I know the title, but it's not much help, I need to figure out something "more distinctive" about the book, such as the author's name.

The title of the book is "Steel". The title refers to an old alligator in the novel. The main character is a teenager who catches rattlesnakes for a living, and is looking for a giant of a snake (realistic size still, like 8 feet long... It occurs to me that I should mention this isn't actually a scifi/fantasy novel so much as a mystery/drama). While this is unfolding, the kid's grandfather seems to be slowly going senile. He has a habit of taking walks in the local swamp, and wading in the water near Steel's territory, causing worry to his family. There's some more stuff about the kid worrying that a boar is going to trample/kill the 8 foot rattler before he can capture it and sell it to the guy running the snake farm (a live snake of that size would be an impressive attraction, and worth alot of money, but it would be worth a lot less dead).

I read this in the late 70's or early 80's, and I think it was pretty new then. Unfortunately I've had no luck trying to find this novel using internet search engines, since the title "Steel" isn't very distinctive. (Searching Amazon books for "steel" turns up over a quarter million possibilities, with over 5000 in the mystery>general category)

So I'm hoping that maybe someone here remembers this, or maybe still has a copy, and can help me find out what I need to find a copy of it.