Hello,
I'm looking to make some small garden tools and was wondering if you should draw temper on a small shovel or hoe? I'm going to use some left over scraps of plow disc from my herb knife and cleaver projects!

the short answer is you will have to temper , but you might get away with as forged,for tools in light work,hoes and small trowels, spades you will have to harden and temper out to get them to stand up to work

I still sharpen plow points occasionally and don't harden or temper them. I forge to final shape and toss them on the floor to cool. They seem to hold up although the farmers eventually come back for a re-sharpen after some number of acres are plowed. They don't complain so I suppose it's 'gud enuff', as "Wilhem" would say...

So what I'm really saying is: make your tools from that plow disc steel or something similar and use without hardening.

I would start with as forged and air cooled and see if they hold up. If they bend, then harden and temper them starting with oil unless you know the steel won't shatter with a water quench.



@Hwoolridge: Were they coming back bent too? Most farmers I know would rather it bend but keep working than shatter on the first rock. I would think the alloys used would be hard wearing moreso than tempered for edge holding.

Any steel that is hardened needs to be tempered untempered tools do not last long!

Bob

Hoes we will normally run the colours down after quenching from 850 deg C in oil, we run the colours to about a brown. For a hoe we will quench about 2" of the blade to harden it before running the colours. Shovels we always harden the whole thing then temper the whole shovel to about 350 deg C. We normally have made shovels from CK1055 sheet at about 2.5mm thick.

Phil

I use mine "as forged". I don't temper or harden... but I DO use pretty good steel. I like old mower blades which are mostly about 1090 IME. I want these kind of tools soft enough to be filed sharp (though I usually use a flap wheel to sharpen them).