tool made from bearing race

[dave d]

i have just made a bark texture tool from a bearing race i would like to know how to heat treat

[ThomasPowers]

Depending on the bearing race it's either a case hardened 9620 like alloy or 52100 which will have RADICALLY different heat treating requirements.

[thingmaker3]

IF the bearing race is 52100, heat to nonmagnetic and quench in oil. Repeat twice more. Temper as needed for the type of tool you are making. If the bearing race is something else, do something else.

[Fe-Wood]

my suggestion would be to replace your texture tool with 4140 and heat treat as appropriate
I have seen unknown bearing material fail BADLY!!!!

[fciron]

I made a couple of tools from a large bearing race and I was worried about how hard the metal was, so I simply annealed them. One tool was a bending fork that served well for a decade before it broke. The other is a bending die, using the curve of the race and it's fine, but it gets a lot less abuse.

I'd be very hesitant to hammer on a piece of bearing race. When my fork failed it simply snapped right off, no bending or warning whatsoever. I realize that you've already put time into making the tool, so, if you're gonna use it, I would anneal it by heating to just above magnetic (as a guess at critical temp.) and cool as slowly as possible. You should only be using it on hot metal anyway, and that annealed tool steel will still be a lot tougher than mild steel.