How to properly forge and quench a pinch bar end

[ichudov]

I have a 6 foot long "digging bar" that I bought for $3 at a garage sale. It is made out of a 1 1/8" or so hex bar. On one end of it, it looks like a metal chisel. On the other end, it is just the hex bar cut off without any shape.

What I would like to accomplish is, to make it into a pinch bar, with that other end sharpened by forging and slightly bent. With that, I could use it to pry big things.

Anyway, the forging part is simple and I can use my Forgemaster to heat that end, make into a chisel shape and bend afterwards. No problem.

My question is more about quenching. I believe that it needs to be properly quenched so that it attains maximum strength and yet is not brittle. Would anyone recommend a quenching procedure.

Thanks

[dablacksmith]

well one problem is what steel do you have there? i would probably bring it to beyond magnetic quench in oil and draw it to a blue or purple... but it might still break or end up soft .. kinda tough with unknown steel ..good luck!

[bigfootnampa]

When I do such things I generally leave the steel in "as forged" condition. Given the size of the bar and it's intended use it would be difficult to improve upon its performance by heat treatment. I think you will find that it will serve very well without HT. I've not had any problems with any of mine.

[Dragons lair]

Igor. My friend I would leave it alone. Ya have enough heavy equipment might need a BIG bar to move it around.
Sad to say I may not make it up there this yr. Wife lost position a mo ago. She is flying up 5th-15th for moms day
We usually drive up in Sept for Bday.
Ken.

[monstermetal]

My vote is for the as forged as well... your likely to have very good results... I have made many "jimmy" bars, a smaller version of what your pondering out of 4140 and left them as they came out of the fire. As far as I know one has never failed.... I would also point out that in in the case of a crow/pry bar its much much better to have one bend than break....

[ThomasPowers]

If you do want to heat treat it: first cut off a section and test it using junkyard steel rules for what to quench it in and what to temper it to.

[John B]

I don't know about in the US, but traditionally tool steels were octagonal rather than hexagonal, this made them easily identified when in a rack, relatively recently the cheap imported pry bars tended to come in in hexagonal section, this hexagonal section used to be for making nuts,

so it may be well to spark test and try a hardening run first, or I would endorse just leave as forged as mentioned before

[Sam Thompson]

I agree with the opinions that if the bar is M/S then it's best to leave it as forged, it's easy enough to repoint it when it wears.
If a spark test shows a higher carbon content then you've got a really good deal. Go and buy a length of M/S and use that to make a digging/pry bar and use the good stuff to make something more useful.
As far as practicality goes, I make them with a straight square point on one end and a chisel point bent at about 30deg, 4" in on the other end.

[ichudov]

My vote is for the as forged as well... your likely to have very good results... I have made many "jimmy" bars, a smaller version of what your pondering out of 4140 and left them as they came out of the fire. As far as I know one has never failed.... I would also point out that in in the case of a crow/pry bar its much much better to have one bend than break....

Thanks guys. I will try to do a spark test on it.