Stephen Spivey

Ok on my next one I try getting the struck end to purple as you described before and test it out. thanks. 

Yeah I am new to this so simpler is better for now.

Thanks. I am going try and get some o-1 . I reheated the steels to cherry red, quenched in water one of them got a hair line crack? Then I put them in the oven for 400 for a hr and re-quenched. Tried them out they work great. I didn't try the one with the crack. I am going to try a oil quench next.

Thanks that's a lot of help.

One of the rules is the steels cannot be hard faced. 

I need them as hard as i can get them but not shatter with repeated blows from a 4 pound sledge . Here is a pic of the ones i have made so far the smallest one is the one that broke. the other three I heated to cherry red then quenched in oil for about five seconds. They seem too soft. 

No i guess not? I thought I was tempering it but i guess i just hardened it. How do you temper it after hardening? 

I am making some drill steels for single jack rock drilling competitions that I compete in. I am making them out of 1'' hex digging bars that are high carbon steel supposedly? I have made a few on a little lathe that I have but I am having trouble tempering them. I need the chisel end as hard as i can get it with out breaking and the end that i hit with the hammer to be hard enough not to mushroom. I tried one in a coal forge my buddy has. Heated the whole thing to cherry red then quenched the tip in water for about five seconds then pulled it out for about a minute then quenched the whole thing for about five to ten seconds then let air cool. When I struck it a few times with a hammer the chisel end shattered so its too hard I am thinking. This is all new to me so if anyone could give me some advice on how to temper these things i would be grateful.