Made a side scraper from a file, and a small square scraper. Was wondering about steel prybars. Is a Stanley prybar hard enough to be used or hold an edge long enough for turning tools? Spark test aside? Dont have access to a bench grinder right now. just a 4" angle grinder and an out of production Delta wetstone sharpener.

Prybars are usually a medium carbon steel.   How abrasive/rugged is the stuff you want to turn?

The square scraper is M2 off of Amazon. Probably turning Mahogany, maple, Oak and any species pen blanks I can get my hands on. Epoxy and acrylic too.

So some fairly abrasive exotics perhaps, but fairly small in size so you could probably go for harder (==more brittle) alloys.  Do you have the equipment to properly heat treat M2 or was it just grinding a blank already hardened?    Last turner I worked with was using carbide lathe tool inserts and just forging the "holders" for them.

The file I ground to shape, heated till non magnetic in a "coffee can forge" plus a few minutes,  then into the oven for a few hours. Seems hard enough when sharpening and real sharp. The M2 I just ground to a sharp edge. Didn't require any shaping.

Do you know what "state" the M2 was in?   A lot of alloy steels ship annealed so they can be machined upon receiving.

Hardened M2 doesn't grind too well

Its hard  cant file it,  Just needed a bevel to sharpen on the wetstone. Is prybar steel high enough carbon for a wood tool?  I have a few that have become too flat to actually pry something,

 

• Yield Strength: 50,000 psi
• Hardness: Rockwell B95 (Medium)
• Heat Treatable: Yes
• Max. Hardness After Heat Treatment: Rockwell C65
• Specifications Met: ASTM A600

 

Not sure which material you are listing the specs for.  I assume the M2?  If so Rc65 is plenty hard, but I would worry about brittleness if you catch a knot while turning...

As regards the prybar, why not try it out and see for yourself?  Your 4 1/2" angle grinder will make short work of the rough grind necessary to shape the tool, and you can finish it by hand sanding with Silicon Carbide paper if necessary.  My expectation is that the prybar would be only medium carbon steel and be tempered for toughness rather than hardness though.  I expect you will find that your sharp edges will wear quickly if you don't redo the heat treatment (and possibly even if you do).  Most likely a better choice would be to use an alternate source of material.  Thomas's recommendation of carbide inserts is probably  your best option for something that will be long wearing, though HSS lathe tools have been used for a long time also.

Working pen blanks is probably less stressful on tools than say turning root burls.   I use carbide tipped tools for turning soapstone spindle whorls for early medieval recreation, often metal lathe bits.

I made a few carbide tools but scrapers work better inside a bowl. I hardened and tempered the file. The M2 is ready to go. No treatment.