July 29, 20205 yr I don't know what you call them around the world but in the UK we have a tool called a Fox Wedge. Think a thin wedge about 3 inch long, 1/4 or maybe 3/8th at one end, 1/16th at the other end and a taper ground on the last 16th and about 1 inch wide. You use them to hammer in between machine components to split the faces. I'm going to forge some, mild steel is a bit soft so I'm thinking of using some 9/16th section coil spring that I have from a mate fitting new springs to his 4x4. Does the hive mind think they will be tough enough without hardening? I don't know what steel the springs are and I have not done any heat treating since I made a center punch at engineering college 32 years ago.
July 29, 20205 yr iirc in general nominal hardness from carbon content is reached at about 0.60 carbon. Higher levels mostly only add to abrasion resistance
July 29, 20205 yr I don't know your specific usage; but I would try an oil quench and then temper to dark blue to make the faces a bit more resistant to gouging if that is a problem. Normalization only if breaking is an issue.
July 30, 20205 yr Dax, I agree with Thomas. You might as well go ahead and harden and temper them. They might work un-heat treated but they are more likely to work with the heat treatment. Also, good practice on a simple project that you don't have hours into. You'd rather do your mistakes and learning on something like this than a blade or a hammer head. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."
July 30, 20205 yr Author Thanks guys. Oil quench and blue it is. I will report back with the results.
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