[TheForge] Spring steel Gun Part

[Bruce Freeman]

Before you spend any more time on this, you should determine what kind
of steel it is.  A spring must have enough carbon to be hardenable.
The handles of aviation snips could be low-carbon steel.  (The blades
would be high-carbon.)  The simplest test is to touch the metal to a
(clean) grinding wheel and observe the sparks.  You're looking for
starbursts with lots of rays.  The fewer the rays, the lower the
carbon.  Use some known steels for comparison.

If the steel part is high-carbon, then you can harden and temper it.
If it is low carbon, there's no hope.  In between, you can give it a
go and see what happens.

On Tue, Dec 8, 2009 at 9:09 AM, Dave Kammer <tinman36 at yahoo.com> wrote:
> Can anyone give me some advice on how to impart flexibility or spring to a small steel part. I have a rather old shotgun with a broken hammer spring. I am unable to find this part, so I made one from the steel handle of some old aviation snips. The part fits perfect, but after you cock the hammer a few times, the spring just starts to bend instead of springing back.
>   Can heat treating or tempering make the part more springy?

-- 
Bruce
NJ