[TheForge] Hammer heat treating/stainless coloration

[Jerry Frost]

I just uploaded a pic of a turning hammer I heat 
treated yesterday. The pic shows the temper colors 
fairly well, though the hammer is farther into the 
purplish than it looks.

It's 1 3/4" X 3 3/4" forged from a Ford truck axle. I 
heated it to critical slowly in the door of my forge, 
turning frequently till non-magnet and just a bit 
beyond. I then stood over the quench tank witing for 
the magnet to just start to like the steel again and 
quenched in warmish water.

I tempered it with a steel "drift," I forged 
specifically for the purpose, heated to high orange and 
tapped into the eye. The colors began to run late in 
the second heat on the drift and the colors you see are 
about midway through the third application. I then 
tapped the drift out and quenched in water.

I have a little finish dressing to do, the edges on the 
faces are a bit too sharp and need a little more 
radius. The rounding face may get more radius but I'll 
decide on that after using it for a while. I'm going to 
leave as much of the temper colors as possible cause 
they're purrty. <grin>

The eye is drifted for a Hoffi style slab handle rather 
than a regular oval shaped handle.

Anyway, this is how I did it.

Frosty
-------------------------------
If it ain't forged
it ain't real.
Wrought iron is.
The FrostWorks

Meadow Lakes, AK.

http://www.artmetalradio.com/

From: "David E. Smucker" <davesmucker at hotmail.com>


> Most old ball pien hammers are 1060 or so, some maybe 
> a 1045.  It is unlikely that hammers will be alloy 
> material.  So you have a medium carbon plain steel --  
> most would say is water hardening.  But -- if your 
> friend is making thin edged tools then you can get by 
> with a oil quench if you only heat the cutting 
> surface and area directly behind it for heat 
> treating. Slowly heat the cutting area to just above 
> the critical temperature -- just above non-magnetic 
> and quench in oil.  Keep the tool in motion while in 
> the oil.  Remove wipe clean and right away put in an 
> oven at 375 to 400 F for 1 hour.  This is the 
> tempering step.  I use the kitchen oven -- having 
> cleaned the tool of oil with a little 409 or some 
> such cleaner.  Others use a toaster oven they pick up 
> for $ 5.00 at the local thrift shop.  (keeps the wife 
> happy)
>
> If you want it a little harder you can water 
> quench -- but you are more likely to get a crack. 
> Still I have harden many wood working tools using 
> water or brine.  But you must temper -- don't try to 
> get by without it or the tool will be very brittle. 
> I teach a class at the John C. Campbell Folk School 
> on making woodworking tools.  Out of 12 students 
> making edged tools from 1095 maybe 1 or 2 will have 
> cracking problems when quenching in water -- it most 
> cases it is because they heated too fast and or heat 
> the tool too hot and then quenched.
>
> If you want to practice on something first, get some 
> W1 or water hardening drill rod and make a scriber 
> and / or center punch.  Follow the above heat 
> treating and when it works for you do the same thing 
> with the wood working tools you have a bunch of time 
> into.
>
> Dave Smucker
> Brasstown, NC
>
>
>
>

> From: "Robert J Hill" <wskewinu at mac.com>
>
>
>> Hello all.
>> I have a few questions.  One of my coworkers is 
>> making some wood carving tools from ball pien 
>> hammers.  I also have a cross pien that tends to be 
>> softer than I would like.  What would be a good 
>> method for heat treating these tools?
>> My other question is in regards to heat coloration 
>> from welding on stainless.  Scrubbing the colors off 
>> with Scotch-Brite pads and wire brushes only goes so 
>> far.  Any recommendations for an easier way?
>> Thanks,
>> Rob Hill
>>