W1 hatchet

[Gayle Brooks]

Recently I have been making alot of my own tooling out of various tool steels (sucker rod, h13, w1, etc) Learning about the process of normalizing, annealing, hardening and tempering I choose to take what I knew and apply it to a hatchet.

So this was a ball peen hammer that I made into a hatchet. Though its not a new idea, but was an experiment and new experience for me.

The eye was already set which made it easier and it being w1 is a decent steel. I treated it like a tool I was going to make, and not only shaped it and forged it into something I thought was attractive but heat treated it so that it was more "tough."

From the booklet I got from the Rob Gunter I saw that Brine and Water is a proper quenching medium for w1 and also the temps proper for normalizing, annealing and hardening . The last step (looking in my New Edge of the Anvil book") read that a purple temper was ideal for an axe tool. So by the end I was pretty happy. Shined it up, stained the handle and so far it seems very tough and holds an edge after using it for a while.

To give an idea of the gradient of the toughness: The center (eye) is the softest that progress into the middle of the blade which is hard and from that point to the tip I tempered to a purple which brought the hardness down.

I also did the same treatment to the pick end. I gave this to a friend who works in the forest service and he made a remark that you could do some damage and really get some power behind a swing.

This hatchet with the orange isnt done. This is mild steel forge welded with a 5160 tip. This was alot of fun and cant wait to get it fit to a handle.

Edited July 31, 2008 by Tald the dead

[welder19]

Very cool, nice job!

welder19

[Finnr]

well done. Looks great.
Finnr

[Justin Caradoc]

great job :)

[Johnnie C.]

looks cool finner. I would like to discuss tempering with you some day

[ThomasPowers]

Very nice design!

But where did you get a W1 ballpein? Most of the ones I have found are more like a medium carbon steel. If there is a specific brand that's W-1 I can keep an eye open for them.

BTW does that book say that axes should be tempered purple or that W1 axes should be tempered purple---the correct temper temp depends on the *item* and the *alloy* and a lot of the old books don't cover the alloy point as they had a much smaller range available to them than we do today. (also the temper colour depends on what the end user likes and how they intend to use it as well)

So the book colours are usually more like "suggestions" if you get my Par-lay.

[Gayle Brooks]

I had taken Robb Gunter's tool making class and he had brought up Ball peins at harbor freight. The handles bad but the steel is good. So taking his advise I went down and purchased one. Spark tested it and from that I observed it has the same spark to my sample w1. So far the hatchet holds up great and am pretty pleased with the results.

Your questions brought up some ideas. Im going to ask rob, none of my sources reference a temper chart per tool steel per application. I have a temper color chart for a certain applications.

Edited July 31, 2008 by Tald the dead

[Gayle Brooks]

ok so after a few days of mulling over this, this actualy turned out to be a good lesson. I talked to my father, whom I work with at our shop, and Chad Gunter. They agreed that the tool you are making needs to be tempered for the application you are going to use it for. Also that the correct steel is used (or properly choosen) for the intended application. BUT not to get confused and think that you can heat treat one steel to "act" like another.

The chart the "new edge of the anvil book" is just that, as you said, suggestions. A beginners rule of thumb and/or a place to start at. I did some research and the w1 is pretty flexible in the temper ranges and think I didnt do anything wrong with the way it was treated. Though next time I think I wouldn't be so blind to do "what the book says."

But take the time to really plan 1)what am I trying to do 2)what steel would be the best for it 3) and how to treat the steel appropriately.

Good stuff. Thanks again.

[Donnie]

The one with the orange, keeps me coming back for another look. And, I don't like oranges! Very nice piece of work.

[Gayle Brooks]

lol Im getting that one done. Ill post it when its set in the handle. thanks!

[HWooldridge]

There is a book called "Tool Steels" by George Roberts, which anyone who makes tools or knives should read. It does a good job explaining the reasons why steel behaves the way it does and gives you a good basis for what alloy to use for a particular purpose with guidelines for heat treating. In general, you should always temper on the soft side so the tool bends rather than breaks. That sounds like common sense but is not always considered when someone is aiming for edge holding or impact performance.

I have found that a file test works better when tempering rather than colors. Gives a better feeling for how hard the steel is at a particular temperature rather than guessing at what the color means.

[Gayle Brooks]

I had come across that while looking for one and saw the Google books you can actually preview it. Wasnt sure if I should get it, I think the library could get it in. Thanks for the heads up on it and the advise for the file testing.

[craig]

Those look great !!