[TheForge] to heat treat or not to heat treat... that is my question.

[peter fels & phoebe palmer]

May that be your worst mishap from now on.

On 10/29/2010 2:08 PM, Jason Nass wrote:
> It's all treated and double tempered at 500... the only mishap being my
> butterfingers when pouring the oil into my bucket which lead to a faceful of
> used icky motor oil and a mess on the shop floor.
>
> Jason Nass - MacTalis Ironworks
> me at wargoth.com
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net
> [mailto:theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Andrew Vida
> Sent: Friday, October 29, 2010 11:00 AM
> To: Blacksmithing List Sponsored by ABANA
> Subject: Re: [TheForge] to heat treat or not to heat treat... that is my
> question.
>
>
>
> David E. Smucker wrote:
>> Andy,  I wouldn't go all the way "down to Rc 35" which is a draw
>> temperature of about 1000 F.  Instead I would temper at 500 F which
>> should give a Rc in the high 40's, and yield greater than 200,000 psi.
>> Now in using the small end of the bick you might get it to 800 or 900
>> F which would give you your Rc 35 or so and the steel is down to a
>> yield of 170,000. YMMV and experience may teach you that 500 is too low a
> tempering temperature.
>
> This is not unreasonable.  I was going for max. tough, but a harder face is
> also good.  Besides, the toughness of 4140 doesn't begin to drop off
> precipitously until the low 50s as I recall.  But it DOES drop rather
> suddenly at some point, which is why I figured 35 would be good.
>> For my money 4140 and 4340 are two of the very best engineering steels.
> 	Absolutely agree.
>
> 	It is wickedly tough stuff - has a very gummy, tenacious quality,
> which is a primary reason it is used for gun barrels.  They fail quite
> gracefully, given the nature of the failures. I've seen barrels that have
> split from muzzle to within perhaps 5 inches of the throat.
> Usually 4 perfectly symmetrically peeled back sections.  Reminds one of a
> bugs bunny cartoon when Elmer Fudd's gun blows up in his face - or three
> stooges when Moe hits Curly in the head with an ax and the blade splits in
> two.
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