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I Forge Iron

parintele

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  1. Thanks for the imput guys. Seems like the "truth" is in the middle as far as i understand it. While "by the book" HT procedure seem to produce the best results looks like even a simple HT approach in the average blacksmith shop CAN provide a good enough tool, better than using less suitable type of steel. Worth paying more for the steel and not get the whole amount of benefit from it? That is a question each one should answer for itself, what i have learned from this topic is "it worth give it a try"... Is a step forward compared to "erase 1.2344 from my usefull steels list";)
  2. A while ago i got a reply to a post on youtube regarding use of various steel types for making hot working tools vs use of hot working steels. As far as i knowsteels lile H13 need a HT procedure which is not as simple as those needed in case of spring steels for instance. 5160 is a very decent blacksmith tools steel, punches and stuff like that are very usable with minimum maintainance when used properly (not overheat them too much, decent need for dressing from time to time, etc.) Making a tool in few minutes, heat treating in the forge using minimum required tools (HT ovens and stuff) represent huge advantages imho. So, the fellow blacksmith said H13 is not far from such simple steels, is cheap and readly available everywhere (in the US but it's similar steel 1.2344). Ok, everything fine by now, is indeed available in Europe too and tne price is ok, i checked. What itrigued me was his oppinion that H13 is, qoute, "very forgiving in terms of heat treatment, and tools made out of it perform much better and last forever with minimal maintenance." My guess makes me to agree with the lasting loger with minimal performante thing , what i do not know is how true is the first half of the quote, "very forgiving".... So my question is if you guys use H13 and how exactly do you heat treat the tools make from this type of steel? Is it "forgiving" that meaning a simple HT using a forge and common sense is enough? How about cooling the tool? being an air hardening type of steel, how it behave during use, how hot is too hot, can it be cooled in water, wax or other stuff, is better to use few similar tools alternating use with cooling periods , etc? Some time ago i was looking for special steels fit for the job and H13 was one of them, i dropped the idea of using it based only on reading heat treatment instructions which to me were not simple and looked like anything but a very friendly steel for the blacksmith who makes his own tools in his simple shop. thanks a lot for your time
  3. I have a Bellota ballpein hammer and it is a great quality product.
  4. Such a large hammer as a fuller to be striked with another sledge seems not a good idea. The striker sledge must be a lot heavier in order to be efficient.
  5. As far as i understood the issue is about softening a factory hammer just a little, not anneal it in the softest state of the material which most often makes it just a piece of too soft steel. So taking it to high heat and letting cool slowly is not a solution. Heating it with a torch or even in the forge, on top of the coals, until colors start to run on the face of the hammer. Hammers in general can be made from a lot of alloys(steel compositions) and unless you know exactly what steel it is you can not guess which color to aim for. Some hammers are soft already, some are too hard and brittle (bad heat treatment), some are hard and not brittle, good quality material and heat treat. Just heat little by little, as soon as the color changes try it with a file and using a refference steel (anvil or another hammer to compare with...) first will be yellor, pale brown, dark brown, then purple and so on....from "harder" to softer, you go down step by step, check and stop (cool in water) as soon as hardness is where you want it. AS long as you ask this question here this will not be an easy task so maybe getting a simple junk head and try to play with it would be a better idea. Also, you need to consider another thing: You also need a hard faced hammer cause usually soft hammers are too soft...fine for anvil work with hot material but when you need to use a punch or something similar it might be too soft and ruin the face of it....Better to have another hard one around for that function and you'll see that with time you'll learn to hit the material right and not make mistakes by hitting the anvil corners... then a harder faced hammer will be the only one needed , no need to swap hammers so often while you're working, this being one of the reasons many blacksmiths here advised you not to soften anything... ;)
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