Mark Wargo New2bs

This is the link to the video I was referring to earlier regarding burying the piece during thermal cycling. I'm reading that the consensus is that it shouldn't be done, but rather allow it to air cool that final time as well. Does it need to cool to ambient temperature each time or is a few minutes after it loses all color acceptable?

Thermal Cycling

Mark

I have a decent length of approximately 1 inch square axle off of an agricultural disc. I've searched a bit of the web and junkyard steel guides suggest that agricultural steel is often 1080 steel. would that be a safe bet to assume? I tried spark testing, but I'm not too good at that =/. Also, any suggestions about how to put that to best use would be appreciated.

Mark

Congrats. Please post pictures and let me know how it works so I can be jealous LOL. I really do want to see a good picture. It looked to be in fantastic shape in the two photos I had of it.

Mark

You had a Fisher bigger than 450? Jeesh, this was supposed to have come from a railroad company. How big did they make em?

Mark

I was trying to reduce the grain size so that the spring fuller wouldn't break during use. I allowed it to air cool for the first two heats, then heated to below critical and buried in ashes. I honestly got that by watching a Youtube video of a blacksmith from canada thermal cycling coil springs mae into chisels prior to quenching, though he buried his in vermiculite. He heated to medium orange and air cooled, then dark orange and air cooled, then red and buried.

It broke in the spring section. I was hammering and doing fine, the next thing I know, the top of the fuller is flying by on its way to the floor. So, after normalizing the one I forged today, use it as is rather than quench and temper?

Mark

This was my first attempt at a spring fuller. It was forged from the coil spring off of a jeep. Is this spectacularly large grain structure? I failed to normalize it prior to quenching it in oil (mostly canola). I only tempered it for one cycle of about 90 minutes at a bit over 500 degrees. Do you think the failure was due to failure to normalize, tempering temperature, only one temper cycle, something I'm not considering, or a combination of all the above? Today I forged a 2nd spring fuller and did my best to normalize it correctly. I took it above nonmagnetic, then just above nonmagnetic, then just below nonmagnetic and buried it in ashes. Should this help reduce grain size appropriately? Any help is greatly appreciated.

Mark

Fellow's name is John. His number is 410 255 1951. Good luck with the anvil and let us know how it works for you. Hurt to say no on that deal. Price is right and my brother lives 45 minutes from there.

Mark

If anyone is interested in a 450 LB Fisher anvil let me know. I got a line on it, but if I'm honest, I don't need to spend the money on that right now. It is located in Maryland. The owner is asking $600 for it.

Mark

The blade is a dark off-black color from the oil quench. After the 450 in the oven the edges that were silver are blue-ish.

Mark

I tried to look at it and the picture was very small.

Mark

Congrats on the find.

Mark

congrats, that is a nice anvil.

Mark

I was curious what the relative advantages and disadvantages are of the spare tire hammer versus the rusty style leaf spring hammers.

Mark

Hey Ken, I was just linking Blacksmith Depot prices there, and that doesn't include shipping. I wanted to present other options to the OP in his price range rather than just taking the anvil because it was available, especially given his stated concerns about the anvil. He commented that $600 was big bucks to him. If I were spending $600, I'd want to know that I spent it on the best option for my personal situation. Sometimes a bird in hand is worth two in the bush, but other times it just isn't the bird you want.

Mark

Thanks for the input and insight guys. I did go ahead and do another temper cycle at about 450. I think the oven runs a little hot based on the temper colors I've seen on previous heat treats, so i'm thinking it's a bit closer to 500. I plan to get it reasonably sharp and try it on a variety of targets to test for toughness prior to the big hunt. If it is going to fail, I'd prefer it do so on something other than an angry pig. I'll post pics once it's mounted on the haft. I had thouht I'd polish it back to silver, but I think I'll leave it as quenched.

Mark

That is assuredly a Fisher Norris anvil. Don't bother checking it for a ring, because it won't have one. It is a cast iron body with a steel face. They were sometimes referred to as "deaf" anvils, because of the lack of ring. Anecdotally they were preferred on Navy ships, because of their quietness. 1909 will be the year it was cast, as they did that to all the anvils I'm aware of. Mine was cast in 1899. I personally prefer the lack of ring compared to my SISCO anvil. Just a question for you to consider based on your personal preference...do you want an anvil that large for a reason? You can get a new 100# TFS anvil for less than $600.

Anvil

Mark

Here is an acorn table for $900. It is located in Maryland.

Mark

Just lack of experience. I know what I've read about tempering knives and heat treating in general, but I also know there is often a great deal of difference in knowing something and doing something. I know what the "book" says the RC hardness should be for 5160 tempered at that degree, but I don't have any knowledge of how that relates to flexibility. I don't want to test it to destruction to find out heheh. I also want to insure I don't have any retained austenite to weaken the blade.

Mark

Howdy all. Well, I have successfully forged, ground, normalized, and quenched my first spear point out of 5160 steel. I put it in the oven for two hours at 400 F to relieve stress. Tomorrow I will do another temper cycle. The intended use of the spear is to kill a hog. I know that in that case toughness wins out over edge holding, as it really only needs to hold an edge for a couple kills and can be resharpened between hunts. What temperature would folks suggest for the final tempering cycle to maximize toughness/springiness yet maintain a decent edge?

Mark

nice looking. I like the blade, but I really like that handle.

Mark

I use adobe photoshop. My digital camera saves as pictures that are 50+ inches wide and megabite files. I just resize to about 8 inches wide and save as jpegs. Cuts them down to under 200kb.

Mark

Nice finds indeed.

Well, thanks to some guidance from the fine folks here I've gotten to a decent stage of progress on my first spear. This is my second attempt at a spear, but the first go failed before the object even looked like a spear. I was able to forge the socket out fairly well, although there is a twist in it. The spear has been rough ground with used 60 grit paper. My next step is to move up to 120, then get it ready for heat treat. The steel is 5160. Let me know what you think.

Mark

I really like that. Looks great.

Mark