First centerpunch.  Made from a large Allen key I picked up a while back. 

The hammer end needs to be domed. 

Is this for hot work or cold? For my preferences it's too long for cold work and too short for hot work.

I do like your twist! It's pretty even and a nice touch.

Anvil, just for my information, why would you dome the hammer end?

I would have thought flat would have more contact with the hammer and transfer more energy to the tip.

There i go thinking again.  

Dome: less mushrooming in use.

Can you tell us the heat treat you used on it?

I’ve always done a camphered(sp?) edge 

heat treated the first inch to non metallic. Quenched in oil. Quick hit with a belt to clear scale. Then slow heated the shank in the dragons breath of the forge till the temper line got to right where the spiral ends and then stopped the heat spread. Buffed on a belt for apperiance

Differential hardening, differential tempering: Good. 

What colour did the point end up?  It probably needs some tempering unless it will be used on hot metal which will do it in use.

1 hour ago, Eventlessbox said:

I’ve always done a camphered(sp?) edge

Chamfered.

1 hour ago, Eventlessbox said:

heat treated the first inch to non metallic.

Non-magnetic?

Lol. Yes. I need to proof read better. Very much non magnetic. If I could make it nonmetallic I’d win a Nobel prize prolly. Lol. The tip picked up a light straw. 

Actually, no.  I've seen a number of beginning smiths leave stuff in the forge so long that it scales away to non-metallic. You can also burn it to that state.  Perhaps an Ignoble Piece Prize?

On 12/18/2019 at 7:48 AM, Randy Griffin said:

why would you dome the hammer end

What Thomas said. I will add one more critical reason.

With a domed head your hammer head is more likely to strike point on point.

With a flat struck surface, your flat faced hammer  has a greater chance of striking on a diagonal. This will cause your tool to go flying.

Love this. Learn something new every day. Shame i'm a loose that forge finish though. Love that colour

I’m honestly considering just making a second and keeping that one as a fidget. If you put it tip down and run your hand up and down it it spins in a really satisfying way. 

Lol, I never get rid of a tool I made, no matter how ugly it may be! It's a reminder of my progress and always seems to have a use.

Has anyone made any center punches, eye punches, hot metal carving punches from Valve Stems?

I've heard good things about the steel but you have to find ones that aren't sodium filled, those don't like being heated in a forge and protest violently.

Frosty The Lucky.

Thanks for catching that; I've never had a high performance car, airplane or boat engine that used sodium filled valves; but they are out there.

I was thinking that the metal is supposed to be heat tolerant and dragon carving tooling is better when heat tolerant...

On 12/21/2019 at 8:48 AM, anvil said:

Lol, I never get rid of a tool I made, no matter how ugly it may be! It's a reminder of my progress and always seems to have a use.

Seems I’ve thrown probly thousands of dollars in hammers and other tools in our pond...lol. If I kept them people would start wanting to buy them. Many of the tools I throw out is mainly just for aesthetic reasons, functional tools, but just don’t meet my standards to sell. There’s a big difference in functional and sellable, at least to me. Maybe it’s just called pride, pickyness, or high standards, or maybe all those things are the same. 

 

I grew up in hot rod central S. Cal. and even here discovered from mechanic buddies they charged a LOT extra if they had to cut a bent valve to extract it. Modern engines run a LOT hotter than in the 70s so I'd be pretty conservative. 

I don't know about tossing rejects in the pond, seems sort of drastic to me but somebody around here should have standards I guess. There is an upside though I suppose, just think in a dark post apocalyptic future America where humans are dragging themselves out of the recent stone age, your pond will be THE hot spot to mine bog steel!

I think I'm going to have to incorporate the idea in a short story. Hmmmm.

Frosty The Lucky.

If someone questions your standards, they (your standards) are not high enough.

Just as a pragmatic point, I have had the best luck making center punches by grinding old star drill bits.  There seems to be a good supply at attractive prices and they are pretty durable.  I don’t heat treat them at all... just regrind the points, cut to length and profile grind the struck ends.  I’ve tried various steels and heat treats... but these are cheap, easy and reliable!

Littleblacksmith, in a few years dredge those tools out and sell them as Rustic Look tools

You have to watch Allen keys for tools and make sure they have enough temper drawn. They are pretty good steel, and can get very brittle. I probably would draw it to a purple myself.

The only sodium cooled valves that I know of used in run of the mill vehicles are in the 60's GMC series of V6 engines. My Dad's truck had the 305 V6 and the shop manual mentioned sodium cooled valves.

Hmm.. sounds like some magnet fishing fun in tour pond Mark. Could charge for a permit and recoup some money lol. 

 

Memo to self: have Daughter work on giant mutant catfish to throw tools back out of pond!

I frequently tell folks "all my best work belongs to other people; but I own all my mistakes!"

Time to dig into the iron midden.

2 hours ago, ThomasPowers said:

 "all my best work belongs to other people; but I own all my mistakes!"

Your aphorism is pure genius.

Glenn, 

please add this saying into the "blacksmith, gems, and other brilliance …"   thread.

Thank you.

SLAG.

Done, saved Glenn the work.