[TheForge] (no subject)

[paul]

David E. Smucker wrote:
> I don't like to put any thing as hard as a file between my power 
> hammer dies even if mostly you are forcing the "file" into the hot and 
> soft block sitting on the bottom die.  The other day I picked up a 
> round to do some fullering under the hammer.  It was hardened (dumb 
> me) and left some indentations in my top die.  Nothing a little 
> grinding will not remove, but I like to do as little dressing as 
> possible on my power hammer dies -- just to extend their lives.
>
> Dave
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jim Beard" <regionalchaos at gmail.com>
Nor would I suggest placing anything as hard as a file under a power 
hammer, treadle hammer or a hand hammer for that matter. That was what 
the 'annealing' reference was in my original suggestion.
Annealed high carbon steel might still be tough stuff, but it is not 
brittle.

One way to make dies is to forge a pattern and drive that into a block
to form a die.
In the case of a 60 angle cross section you might try annealing a
triangular file, hopefully a dull one, and then driving that into a hot
block of steel with your treadle hammer to form the die.
'Three corner' files are available in many sizes and the natural taper
on some of them might suit you.
Paul