Panel raisers for WallyB

Heat Treating Steel *LINK*

Frank Mutchler

>This little book is what you're looking for. I've made quite a few parts for antique firearms. The parts typicaly were no longer available anywhere and if the owner wanted to use the firearm it meant having the broken/missing parts custom made. The process I used roughly involved:

1. Hack-sawing/filing/bending a piece of steel (oil or water hardening) to whatever shape you need.

2. Polishing the part to eliminate the possibility of stress cracks.

3. Heating the part to a temperature where it would not respond to a magnet.

4. Quenching the part in the mixture of choice.

5. Part is now 'dead soft'. Polish a portion to remove carbon/soot.

6. Reheat part while observing color change. Different colors e.g. straw, brown, purple, blue indicate different hardness.

Replicating old leaf springs were some of my favorites. It always amazed me that they never broke when compressed and worked as well as the originals.


Heat Treating Steel

Re: Thanks for the info

Scott Post

>Sorry, I don't have any pictures of the straw color. I'll try to remember to take one the next time I temper a blade. It's pretty subtle though, so I'm not sure my poor photography skills are up to the task.

I've always bought my O1 from MSC, not because they're the cheapest but because they're the first source I ran across. You can get at least 4, but probably 8 molding plane irons out of a 2"x18"x1/8" piece of O1 for $12 so I never bothered to price shop. $20 will buy enough steel to last years for a guy who makes a couple planes a year. There's nothing magical about MSC's steel so if you find a place with ground flat O1 stock that's cheaper there's no reason not to buy it elsewhere.

One thing to be aware of with MSC is you don't want to play the typical mail order game of adding impulse buys to your order figuring you'll save on shipping multiple items. MSC will often ship things from different warehouses and charge you shipping on each box. They're an industrial supplier so that's just the way they do things.

Re: Heat Treating Steel

Don Thompson, Cutler Ridge, South of Miami FL

>I would have thought that steps 3 & 4 would have had the effect of hardening the steel, but in step 5 you describe it as being "dead soft." I thought that heat + quench = hardened. Then one proceeds to tempering.

What am I missing here? (I have never done this, but look forward to making a molding plane some day)

A small correction

Bob Hackett

>After then first quench the steel will be glass hard and not soft.I have seen parts in this state shatter when dropped on a concrete floor.

For more info on toolmaking I would look to sources like Ray Larsen`s book"Tool Making for Woodworkers" available from Cambium Press(ISBN0-9643999-4-6),or any of the books by Alexander Weygers.Weygers` books used to be available from Van Nostrand Rienhold but I can`t say for sure they publish the combined version of the original three books.ABE books would be a good place to start.

For one on one instruction from a live source,go to the ABANA site and look up a blacksmith in your area.Be prepared to write things down as you won`t be able to remember all you`ll hear.I would suggest you let the smith temper your blade while you watch,that way you`ll compensate him for at least part of his time.

One recomendation as far as tempering goes(the oxide color stage and final quench).I would recommend that you use your kitchen oven or an old toaster oven instead of a torch(we all know how easy it is to "blue"a chisel or iron at the grinder,thus making it too soft to use.Do you really feel you can do better with a torch your first time out?).Use an accurate oven thermometer to bring the part up to temp and then let it soak at that temp for 30 to 90 minutes depending on the thickness of the part.Now your part will be the same hardness all the way thru and will also have less internal stresses left.You may not get that pretty rainbow of colors(the tools will be all straw color for instance),but you will get exactly the temper you want all thru the tool.

If SWMBO refuses to let you use the appliances,there are other metalworking tricks you can use for thin blades.Let me know if you need this info after she puts her foot down.

Mainely,Bob

Re: Heat Treating Steel

Frank Mutchler

>You're right, Don. I just got in from a long road trip and managed to stick my size 12 firmly in my mouth before crashing for the night. The tempering process softens the brittle hard steel to whatever is desired. Sorry for the cornfusion ;>)!!