Kenny O Posted October 20, 2010 Share Posted October 20, 2010 I have made some dies from CRS cuz it's all I had, Can it be tempered to function. I have taken it to non magnetic and quenched it in water. would it be senseless to continue? Here are the dies in place before hardening Thanks for the help Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timothy Miller Posted October 20, 2010 Share Posted October 20, 2010 Cold rolled steel is too soft to harden much at all. It is at best .20% carbon. even using super quench wont do much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob S Posted October 20, 2010 Share Posted October 20, 2010 ....but go ahead and use them. Keep your workpiece hot hot hot and they will hold up for a while. Make the next set out of something tougher. No problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dkunkler Posted October 20, 2010 Share Posted October 20, 2010 You could extend their life somewhat by case-hardening them with Kasenit or Cherry Red. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kenny O Posted October 20, 2010 Author Share Posted October 20, 2010 Yes... case hardening. Is there a better, and best, or are they all pretty similar? I have heard Kasenit mentioned more. I was given a bunch of cold rolled, made this blacksmith helper out of it. What is its specific usage? Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John B Posted October 20, 2010 Share Posted October 20, 2010 Yes... case hardening. Is there a better, and best, or are they all pretty similar? I have heard Kasenit mentioned more. I was given a bunch of cold rolled, made this blacksmith helper out of it. What is its specific usage? Thanks Case hardening will give a harder, wear resistant working surface whare it is treated Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kenny O Posted October 20, 2010 Author Share Posted October 20, 2010 Case hardening will give a harder, wear resistant working surface where it is treated One more question... are these( carborizing compounds) made for friction or impact? I'm sure it would help either way, Just beating this horse some more Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattBower Posted October 20, 2010 Share Posted October 20, 2010 The case depth is extremely thin. You'll get superficial surface hardness that will help protect against wear, but it won't really do anything as far as impact. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pkrankow Posted October 20, 2010 Share Posted October 20, 2010 Don't forget to weld a "button" for your hammer to hit, think a 2 inch cube or cylinder or whatever shape you have in your scrap bin. This will prevent the struck end of the die from deforming as much and as quick. Phil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kenny O Posted October 20, 2010 Author Share Posted October 20, 2010 Don't forget to weld a "button" for your hammer to hit, think a 2 inch cube or cylinder or whatever shape you have in your scrap bin. This will prevent the struck end of the die from deforming as much and as quick. Phil Thanks Phil, that wasn't on my agenda. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted October 21, 2010 Share Posted October 21, 2010 Case hardening is for wear resistance and won't do anything for impact resistance. CRS is low carbon and will serve if what you're forging is hot enough but will wear out sooner than you'd like. However it's better than no dies and if you play it right will pay for a set of high carbon forging dies so think of them as a bootstrapping your way up set. Frosty the Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dkunkler Posted October 21, 2010 Share Posted October 21, 2010 Like I said, case-hardening could help somewhat. Not a lot. It might not be worth the the expense of finding and buying compound just for this. Keep an eye out for some heavy truck leaf spring you can flatten for new dies after these wear out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kenny O Posted October 21, 2010 Author Share Posted October 21, 2010 thanks for the mini course in case hardening:) for some reason I thought cr had more carbon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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