Cleaning heat-treated blades

wow...did you make those?

WoodburnBob

>Frank, I can't say anything authorative about your question, but have to ask whether you made those from flat stock? Mind saying a little about what machines and methods you used? Bob

Re: wow...did you make those?

Frank D. in Montreal

>Hi Bob,

I made them from bar stock...thanks! All I used was a 6" grinder, a bastard file, and a hacksaw. I cut them down to size and cut the tangs with the hacksaw, then did just about all the shaping freehand (with a tool rest) on the grinder. After that, a little cleaning up with the files, as well as part of the chamfers I had to finish on the sawn-neck chisels (the motor on the grinder got in the way a few times). After that I just straightened them out by hand if they needed it.

I made life easy for myself and bought bar stock that fit most of the widths/thicknesses I needed, so I only had to saw about four blades along the whole length.

Oh yeah, to bend the swan necks I put them in a small mechanic's vise and used a piece of wood, kind of like a chisel, to apply the force of my small sledge in just the right place.

Re: Cleaning heat-treated blades

Dan Clermont in Burnaby

>Nicley done Frank.

What Rockwell hardness did you shoot for??

I will send you my address later along with a cheque for my chisel order

Cheers

Dan CLermont

Re: Cleaning heat-treated blades

Frank D. in Montreal

>Hi Dan,

I had them hardened to RC 60-62. I only accept cashier's cheques BTW. And they're expensive, my company's called Lie-Franksen. You won't find many crank-necked A2 chisels out there.

Re: Cleaning heat-treated blades

Wayne Anderson

>My A2 irons come back from the heat treater much cleaner. They do have a straw color finish though. It comes off after a firm rubbing with maroon Scotchbrite pad. Wayne

cleaning is probably not the best term...

bill tindall

>The black stuff is oxidized metal and you need to be rid of all of it at the edge, both sides. For the CPM 3V it was recommended by the manufacturer to remove 0.003" and that would remove any oxidized and partially oxidized metal. We just ground it away with typical sharpening procedures but for a large batch of tools hiring someone to surface grind it will save a lot of hours of grinding the back sides. It takes some effort to remove 0.003" of hardened metal from back sides.

I leave it away from the edge because it resists corrosion. Away from the edge the black is easily removed by any abrasive. Because it is degraded metal it is soft and easily removed.

Re: Cleaning heat-treated blades

Dan Clermont in Burnaby

>Do you sell a supple leather tool roll to go with it???

You did a nice job Frank!!!

Dan Clermont

Thanks guys

Frank D. in Montreal

>

Re: Cleaning heat-treated blades

Bart Leetch

>Great looking chisels Frank

So do you make socket style chisels too?

Re: Cleaning heat-treated blades

Steve knight

>I use a belt sander myself. though I pay extra for rotoblasting now and the irons come back clean.

usualy you need to grind off the surface. be careful of rust heat treated steel tends to rust right away.

Re: wow...did you make those?

paul womack

>I made them from bar stock...thanks! All I used was a 6" grinder, a bastard file, and a hacksaw. I cut them down to size and cut the tangs with the hacksaw, then did just about all the shaping freehand (with a tool rest) on the grinder. After that, a little cleaning up with the files, as well as part of the chamfers I had to finish on the sawn-neck chisels (the motor on the grinder got in the way a few times). After that I just straightened them out by hand if they needed it.

Shop made tools - the very best kind.

Great work!

BugBear

Re: Cleaning heat-treated blades

Frank D. in Montreal

>No sockets yet Bart, I'd like to get into forging but haven't had the chance. Tanged chisels with bolsters are very strong though.

Em's purty

Jim Reed @ Tallahassee

>Great work. Abrasion is the best way to remove the unsightly stains.

Re: Cleaning heat-treated blades

Bob Fawcett

>A2 and D2 are very hard to forge. They harden as soon as you heat them. I used L7 in the knife forging class I took from an old blacksmith years ago. It makes a great knife and holds an edge well. It was originally developed for making saw blades for sawmills. I bet it would make a great forged chisel.

Re: Cleaning heat-treated blades

paul womack

>A2 and D2 are very hard to forge.

That's certainly what T. L-N says about A2.

BugBear

Re: Cleaning heat-treated blades

dave jeske

>Very nice looking tools!

A2 is heat treated in a vacuum furnace it does not get the black scale but does come back with a straw color. This can be removed with a scotchbrite wheel (or by hand). O-1 that is oil quenched can be cleaned up with a scotch-brite pad and elbow grease.

Re: Cleaning heat-treated blades

Hub in Ontario

>Frank,

We put many of our heat treated parts at work here through a tumbler with ceramic media to clean it. If you want to send me a scrap piece or a small chisel to test, I will run it through for you to see how it works. Naturally I will return it!

Hub

remove 7 for e-mail.

Re: Cleaning heat-treated blades

Frank D. in Montreal

>Thanks for the offer Hub,

Very generous of you! I think I'll hang on to them though, I shouldn't have too many problems. I'm so slow and I'm such a procrastinator that it would set me back a good 6 months before I ever got them to you!

thanks again,

Frank

Re: Cleaning heat-treated blades

Hub in Ontario

>Frank,

Another thought since you are in no hurry. In this area, close to London, we have historical equipment shows. Quite often there is a chap in attendance who does a type of blasting, similar to sand blasting, but uses ground corn stalks instead of sand. Seems to do a very nice job but not as agressive as sand.

Perhaps you could enquire if there is something like this in your area.

Hub

Re: Cleaning heat-treated blades

Norman (Ottawa, Ont.)

>Hey Frank...

I have a book on "Procrastination" you can borrow.

I never got around to reading it, keep putting it off :))

Norman