varsity07840
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I want to peen the edges of a steel butt plate to close a small inletting gap. Should I anneal it first?
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steel butt plate
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rich pierce
70 Cal.
Dangerous. Cast steel buttplates are so hard to peen that you run the chance of chipping put the wood. And they don't deform locally as brass does- you'll simply put in a big change in curve.
Black Hand
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It certainly can't hurt. It would probably be a bit softer and easier to work. The ones I've done were not annealed, but the area to be worked was thin to begin with.....
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You can try an anneal, but I don't think it will do any good. When it came out of the mold, it was probably as soft as it will ever be. It is a low carb steel, and cannot be hardened to any degree other than being work hardened, as far as I know.
I think Wick is right.
An as cast part is about as soft as it will ever be.
Look at it this way: Annealing steel envolves heating it red hot and then slowly cooling it.
When a casting is poured, it is hotter than red hot.
As it cools, it becomes red hot, heating the sand around it up to about the same temperature. Then the casting and sand slowly cool together.
You can't hardly ask for a better annealing environment.
The fact that most, if not all steel furniture castings are made with low carbon steel (which will not harden or work harden) assures it will stay soft even if you hammer or bend it.
zonie
An as cast part is about as soft as it will ever be.
Look at it this way: Annealing steel envolves heating it red hot and then slowly cooling it.
When a casting is poured, it is hotter than red hot.
As it cools, it becomes red hot, heating the sand around it up to about the same temperature. Then the casting and sand slowly cool together.
You can't hardly ask for a better annealing environment.
The fact that most, if not all steel furniture castings are made with low carbon steel (which will not harden or work harden) assures it will stay soft even if you hammer or bend it.
zonie
paulvallandigham
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It will be a lot less risky to simply remove more wood to better seat that buttplate, than to be hammering on a casting.
Use a marking dye, like lipstick on the backside of the buttplate, to mark the high spots, and carefully take them off with chisels, scrapers and sand paper. Test the buttplate frequently. It will take you a couple of hours of work, so spread it over a couple of days, and stop working when your fingers cramp, or you tire. No sense in ruining good work with a slip. And no sense cutting your self because of fatigue.
Use a marking dye, like lipstick on the backside of the buttplate, to mark the high spots, and carefully take them off with chisels, scrapers and sand paper. Test the buttplate frequently. It will take you a couple of hours of work, so spread it over a couple of days, and stop working when your fingers cramp, or you tire. No sense in ruining good work with a slip. And no sense cutting your self because of fatigue.
varsity07840
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paulvallandigham said:
I'm afraid I might open up a can of worms. There's only one spot where there's thin gap. Everywhere else it's pretty tight. Rich, I agree with you about the wood, but if I do peen it, I plan on taking it off the stock first, with the area needing work marked with white out. Peen it a bit, then see how it fits. More time consuming,
but safer. Actually I'm wondering if swelling in the pores from the truoil may be enough to close the gap.
Thanks to all for the feedback.
Duane
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I first tried peening the steel butt plate (out of the stock) on my Lyman GPR kit, and gave it up quick. It would take a whole lot more hammering than I was willing to do, and it was lots of extra work cleaning up the peen marks, even if I didn't peen enough to make a difference. Nowhere near as easy or productive as peening brass. Back to the woodwork, and with inletting black and a little care, I didn't run across a single can of worms.
paulvallandigham
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Duane: You will be better off using acraglass bedding compounds to seal the endgrain and marry the buttplate to the stock than using Tru-Oil. I have done both, and that would be my recommendation. However, your comment about there being only " One spot " that doesn't fit, is the cry from every stock maker I have ever known.
What, you don't want to join this club of adult men who mumble to themselves in their workshops, call upon unknown Gods, curse the devil, and engage in all kinds of incantations to drive evils spirits away from their work? Gee, I thought we were going to get another valued member to the club!
You will be much better off removing those high spots with a scraper, than trying to peen that steel buttplate. The real problem with steel, instead of brass, is that you get much more rebound with steel, so bending it " just enough " becomes much more maddening than removing a bit of wood to get that final low spot to show marking dye.
What, you don't want to join this club of adult men who mumble to themselves in their workshops, call upon unknown Gods, curse the devil, and engage in all kinds of incantations to drive evils spirits away from their work? Gee, I thought we were going to get another valued member to the club!
You will be much better off removing those high spots with a scraper, than trying to peen that steel buttplate. The real problem with steel, instead of brass, is that you get much more rebound with steel, so bending it " just enough " becomes much more maddening than removing a bit of wood to get that final low spot to show marking dye.
paulvallandigham
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Davy!!!! Shush !! I was trying to break the guy into this gently! :rotf:
Really good advice, Paul. I was thinking that bedding compound would probably be a quick -fix if he was not comfortable removing a little more wood. Give him choices and you will snag him into this "workshop thing" for sure. :haha:
