Hi everyone,

My brother and I are keen fishermen and spear fishermen, and we've got a trip coming up next week. My bother asked me if I could make us a gaff, so I forged one this afternoon out of 10mm (about 3/8"). Here's the hook section, rough forged:

My question is, should I heat treat it? I'm confident enough in my process, but I've occasionally had unknown/recycled coil spring crack in use, after heat treating. I assume this was from stresses in its working life leading to micro-cracks or other degradation. Provided there are no micro-cracks already in the steel, I'm confident it will withstand the forces applied in use just from its thickness. But, if there's no micro-cracks in the steel then heat treating it also shouldn't be an issue.

I'd just hate to go to use it on the fish of a lifetime and have it snap and lose the fish!

Having typed this all out, I think I've convinced myself not to. But, I think if I get time I might forge a second one and try one with heat treating and one without.

I'll try to remember to update this thread either way.

Cheers,

Jono.

Good Morning, Hefty

What is the weight of the Fish you are dreaming of? Yes, the bigger fish have more of wiggle when out of the water. When I was Commercial Trolling, you had a second to decide if the hook was set enough, so you could whack the fish on the head before lifting it in. OR, you didn't want to lose the Fish with a poorly set hook and just hauled it in and then gave it a whack.

I used to heat treat wrecking, building demolition bars, that I make. UNTIL, One of the guys using a bar, third story up, on the roof, a Bar broke when he was pulling hard. There was nothing under him, but he caught a Floor Joist going through. He was off work for 4 weeks!! Since then I don't Heat Treat, I Normalize only. I would rather have a Bar bend a bit and give some warning, before Breaking!!

Neil