Tempering spring steel, blacksmithing, bushcraft, forge.

[MetalGuru1964]

I am making my own springs for box locks,using hair pins,which i cut to approximate size with a 'Junior' hacksaw. I have managed to bend the small curve required,around a 2.75mm diameter pin,without needing to apply heat,but have had problems with the other curve required(approx.19mm dia. I've tried cold bending it round a 20mm dia. bar with a shallow groove turned in it,un-successfully.I tried heating it to bright red then clamping it onto the bar with Mole-Grips,but it cools in less tha

[howshawthebrave]

@MetalGuru1964 I would look on a gunsmiths forum if I were you. It's all the same principles but on a smaller scale with specialised tools & techniques. You would need a smaller tool that doesn't form a heat sink like the moles are doing.

[jacobkozakiewicz18]

and do u do this before forging into your desired tool right?

[howshawthebrave]

@jacobkozakiewicz18 No. If it were a knife you would get it finished, harden it & then finally temper it but as I said in the video, a knife is tempered in a very specific way, trying to keep the blade flexible whilst the edge keeps it's hardness.

[jacobkozakiewicz18]

what type of oil do u use? i'm just getting into forging so i dnt know much

[howshawthebrave]

@jacobkozakiewicz18 Old car engine oul. It doesn't matter too much it's just that it is a source of carbon.

[bellsmith88]

so how do you make a trap spring? Could you show us?

[StGeorgeTemplar92]

@howshawthebrave is EN45 spring steel good for swords?

[howshawthebrave]

@StGeorgeTemplar92 It should be fine. It won't bend or snap & if you can temper it evenly it will hold an edge.

[jeremiahsineiii]

@howshawthebrave Correct me if I'm wrong, but weren't many styles of long combat blades only tempered on the first 4-8 inches (from the pointed end) where the cutting was meant to take place, leaving the lower section softer for parries?

[jeremiahsineiii]

@jeremiahsineiii (I guess I should say "Aren't many styles of long combat blades..."

[StGeorgeTemplar92]

aimed to anyone who can answer. EN45 Spring Steel, is it any good for sharpening and using as a real blade which will cut through things like wood?

[mrmuguee]

Great video, best explanation on tempering I've seen; please post more videos.

[Losuol]

Also, please think about going into engineering :)

[Losuol]

Why do you use warm oil and not water? Is it because the water evaporates? 

[alfav6dax]

Brilliant vid, thanks

[express375]

Exactly what I needed. I'm making a spring for a pen knife. The first one had a slight bend in it after quenching from critical. It snapped as easy as a biscuit :) What's funny is i kinda knew it might snap,and i still tried to bend it.

I wasn't sure if i quenched it again after the tempering.This is the exact answer i was looking for.Cheers.

[RLScheurman]

wonderful video. i have a question, is there a difference when working with stainless spring steel? can i work and heat treat and anneal the same way?

[howshawthebrave]

@RLScheurman I honestly cant answer that because there are so many different alloys of stainless with different properties.

[quintin636]

thanks!! i've seen a lot of video's of tempering and hardening!!! A LOT!!! and non of the video's explained this good. NON!!! now I understand it... THANKS!!!

[howshawthebrave]

@quintin636 thank you for you kind words.

[1stngl]

@howshawthebrave WOuld be very nice if you would do the vid about selective tempering for a knife ...seen a lot but would be very interesting to find out your approach in the same simple, easy to understand manner. Thanks!

[TheItalianPerson]

thats why they call it spring steel

[DIYweldingPlans]

I'd like to see a video on how to make/temper a knife like yours in that video. Thanks for a very informative video

[TOMBSTONESTAN]

Im just gathering tools ,bits an bobs to make a forge etc. as im going to start making my own knives as a hobby. Your vidio is the most informative on the you tube. This told me a lot of stuff others miss out. Many thanks for a great vid,Brill.!

[Development2112]

Thank you sir. And I suppose that is we don't have a blowtorch we can see the blue by scraping the surface with a rock or file correct?

[howshawthebrave]

@Development2112 No. The blue is a temp indicator that appears as you heat the steel. Before we had blowtorches this was done in the forge & the room was very dimly lit. Much harder to do though.

[sirlordmongus]

Excellent-- thank you.

[Rooneysk8]

Very awesome, thank you!!

[Rooneysk8]

Very awesome Vid. Thank you soo much

[MrGRINandBEARit]

that was a great video :) but i was just wondering, once the hardened steel is then reheated to a dark blue, is it left to cool very slowly, or is it quenched? thanks

[howshawthebrave]

@MrGRINandBEARit You can quench it. It's not as critical for spring as it is for a blade edge. That's a bit mome complicated because you need to graduate the tempering whilst retaining an edge.

[MrGRINandBEARit]

@howshawthebrave ah ok thanks for that :)

[newtubetubetube]

Would it be possible to heat the steal for hardening using the blow torch instead of coal fire? Else, is it possible to heat for hardening using just coal fire without forge fan? Thanks

[howshawthebrave]

@newtubetubetube You can use a blowtorch yes. Preferably in a small hearth of fire brick. You can't get the temp with just coal & no draft though. I use charcoal & I make it myself. Try searching bushcraft forge on youtube. It's easy to make a basic outdoor forge. Loads of fun too!

[mrwiggles2]

Awesome, just what I was looking for. I'll add this to my favorites.

[knifefight19]

hey it's freddy kruger!

[IAmTheFilmFanatic]

Great video really helped thanks :) !

[blightcraftgamma]

thank you. was very good. that old file went to a good cause

[caemaridwn]

Nice video thanks for the info keep it up

[playwyou2006]

I enjoyed your video. I hope you will make a video showing the proper process to temper a knife blade. Some videos recommend placing the knife in an oven at 350 for a couple of hours but i think that will make the edge soft. I hope you have the time to show the proper way...Thanks

[AdmiralBoom76]

Let spring steel air cool and it's perfect for froe making.

[howshawthebrave]

@AdmiralBoom76 Yep! Morris 1000 if you can get em.

[SsjSned]

i would like to see a vid on that knife process. tkx ur vid was simply great

[Gtrsnax]

Incredibly useful video, thank you very much. This helped me understand all the little details about making a knife from scratch that I didnt understand yet.

[markjacksmarkjacks]

Bravo! Bravo! I learned a lot!  Thanks.

[cougarman07470]

REALLY ENJOYED YOU VIDEO ON HEAT TREATING AND WISH THERE WERE MORE. I CAN RELATE TO MANY OF YOUR VIDEOS AND ALSO SHARE SOME OF THE SAME INTEREST. PRESENTLY I'M INTO MACHINING AND CAN USE ALL THE INFORMATION ON THESE SUBJECTS. KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK AND HOPE TO SEE MORE ON TEMPERING AND HARDENING THANKS COUGARMAN07470

[cougarman07470]

REALLY ENJOYED YOU VIDEO ON HEAT TREATING AND WISH THERE WERE MORE. I CAN RELATE TO MANY OF YOUR VIDEOS AND ALSO SHARE SOME OF THE SAME INTEREST. PRESENTLY I'M INTO MACHINING AND CAN USE ALL THE INFORMATION ON THESE SUBJECTS. KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK AND HOPE TO SEE MORE ON TEMPERING AND HARDENING THANKS TONY G.

[howshawthebrave]

@cougarman07470 Thanks for the comments.

[dadinanm3]

Great video. Very well explained.

[joblessalex]

Thanks! I was making a 2ft sword for the fun of it out of some annealed spring stock and this did very well.

[joblessalex]

Thanks for the video!! I was looking all over to find a straightforward tutorial on how to do this and this one worked great! Would like to see how to harden just the knife edge and leave the rest tempered. Every time I try to do it the rest gets too hot and I have to retemper it.

[howshawthebrave]

@joblessalex Nip the edge in the vice. This acts as a heat sink. You also need a big wet cloth so that if you see the colour creeping towards the point you can stop it. I call it the 'Oh Shit!" cloth ;)

[Goldfincharmour]

Awsome video, really helpful. Is this second blue just before it goes cherry red?

[howshawthebrave]

@Goldfincharmour Yes it is.

[4tracktapeday]

Thank you for this video, your demonstration and explanations are very clear and have been very helpful to me.

[rrnsss]

thank you so much for your nice video. Every thing was explained in an easy to understand fashion, simple and with examples. Hope you can post more videos like this on forging process too, for beginers like me..

[rc8rsracer]

so mild steel becomes tool steel when hardened? (assuming i didnt start with spring steel) can mildsteel become spring steel?

[howshawthebrave]

@rc8rsracer No. Mild steel can never become tool steel, it doesn't have enough carbon. You can only case harden mild steel & that's another story.

[bikingnutcase0]

That's a good video! I'm used to hardening/tempering, but I'm making a spring at the moment and having real trouble getting an even heat at the tempering stage because it's really thin!

What I found useful about your video was where you pointed out that the steel can look blue when it's still not quite up to heat. I'd not thought about that before, just assumed it went straw, brown, purple, blue, and blue was correct. So now I realise that, I'm thinking more heat!

Thankyou for sharing!

[braedinn]

excellent video,,ya explained it in terms even then non-blacksmith can understand,,,looking forward to more

[SamuelitoRubio]

Great video, thanks a lot.

[wigglegiggle99]

Very nice video. You explained the concepts well. Thank you.

[hiddenshadows4]

great video, thanks for the help

[howshawthebrave]

@Nickodemusodurn Thanks for your comment. No time like the present for getting your forge set up. You need to get lit up and start to get the feel of the the iron. Very satisfying and totally addictive. Good luck!

[NaturalBushcraft]

Great video SonofHood, I'll add this one to my favourites. Thanks for sharing,

- Ashley Cawley.

[howshawthebrave]

@NaturalBushcraft Thanks Ashley, It means a lot coming from you.