When I was a kid I ran across a book on blacksmithing at the local library. I have always wanted to do some smithing but for whatever reason never did.
Today saw that change and here is my first misadventure for you all to share a laugh at.
I followed some advice found here on this forum and headed down to the local farm implement store in search of hay rake tines. No prob, they had lots and so I got 1 of each. Whopping 5 bucks or so. Then it was home to my stack of soft bricks forge and borrowed propane through my homemade burner. I'll get a dedicated propane tank sometime but the grill will have to share for now.
The forging went fine and though my proportions were a little off I was satisfied for my first attempt.
Then came hardening. I don't have any automatic transmission fluid so I tried water as a quench medium. The first attempt didn't seem to work. My file could still file the metal So I reheated to orange (very unscientific and untrained eye guestimation on that folks) and tried again. What did I have to loose, right?
Well, As it turned out, the striker is what I had to loose. Not only did it not harden but it cracked badly.
I dunno if you can see it.
So, lessons learned.
1. Always test materials/methods for function before investing time into making things.
2. Testing from #1 would have shown that I needed to have a couple of magnets handy to test my work piece's temperature before quenching.
3. New Holland rake tines don't like water quenching!!!!
I'll try some used motor oil next time or go buy some ATF and give it a whirl.
Thanks to what I have learned on this and some other forums I feel very confident that I can trouble shoot this and get it right eventually. If anyone has an comments or suggestions please feel free to let me know.
Now, If they would just add an extra day to the week, or a few more hours to the day I would have the time to get all my new projects done.
Have fun and keep tinkering,
Ben
Today saw that change and here is my first misadventure for you all to share a laugh at.
I followed some advice found here on this forum and headed down to the local farm implement store in search of hay rake tines. No prob, they had lots and so I got 1 of each. Whopping 5 bucks or so. Then it was home to my stack of soft bricks forge and borrowed propane through my homemade burner. I'll get a dedicated propane tank sometime but the grill will have to share for now.
The forging went fine and though my proportions were a little off I was satisfied for my first attempt.
Then came hardening. I don't have any automatic transmission fluid so I tried water as a quench medium. The first attempt didn't seem to work. My file could still file the metal So I reheated to orange (very unscientific and untrained eye guestimation on that folks) and tried again. What did I have to loose, right?
Well, As it turned out, the striker is what I had to loose. Not only did it not harden but it cracked badly.
I dunno if you can see it.
So, lessons learned.
1. Always test materials/methods for function before investing time into making things.
2. Testing from #1 would have shown that I needed to have a couple of magnets handy to test my work piece's temperature before quenching.
3. New Holland rake tines don't like water quenching!!!!
I'll try some used motor oil next time or go buy some ATF and give it a whirl.
Thanks to what I have learned on this and some other forums I feel very confident that I can trouble shoot this and get it right eventually. If anyone has an comments or suggestions please feel free to let me know.
Now, If they would just add an extra day to the week, or a few more hours to the day I would have the time to get all my new projects done.
Have fun and keep tinkering,
Ben