[TheForge] Superquench/hardening power hammer dies

[Jerry Smith]

         I make the power hammer's upper out of 0-1 steel and the lower out 
of 1018. The upper work hardens while the lower stay a little soft.

Jerry

At 12:53 PM 12/29/2004, you wrote:
>The recent superquench discussion has prompted a question: do we really  need
>to heat treat our power hammer dies?  I have some of 4140  and 5160 and do
>not think they have been hardened and tempered. I grind them  back to shape
>about every six months on my 2x72 Grizzly. Not a REAL heavy user  but they 
>do see
>some action. I wonder if heat treating out weighs the gain from  not.
>
>I got the impression from a couple of the posts that many of the power
>hammer dies are not hardened.
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