[TheForge] Re: hardening and tenpering of H-13

[Roger Olsen]

John,

Can you give more details regarding your tempering process on H-13,  say
you have a tool you have built that is 12' long,  do you evenly forge heat
it to a yellow heat,  allow to air cool and then slowly reheat the working
end, say the last 3 inches or so in the forge or with a torch to a faint
red in the shadows and then allow to air cool once again.

Thanks,

Roger Olsen
__________________

John Newman wrote:

> I use H13 on cold steel regularly and find it holds up well.  I used a
> H13 punch in my flypress to punch over 200 1/4" holes cold and it still
> looks fine. You have to temper it to a faint red in the shadows after
> air hardening it at a yellow heat.  If you skip the temper the edge
> dulls.  I have found H13 to be fairly cheap as well (12' of 3/8" and
> 1/2" round for $30 Cdn.)
>
> John Newman
>
> Frederick Faller wrote:
>
> > These pins are typically an H-13 steel that must
> > withstand the high working temperatures of the molding
> > process.
> >
> >  (H-13 is self
> > hardening steel) If you work the steel cold, these
> > will dull up as they are not a particullarly hard
> > steel, so don't use them for cold cutting, but with
> > hot work, you never have to worry about losing
> > hardeness with tempering because they self harden.
> >
> >
>
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