tool steel?

[johnakay]

it been nearly over 20 years since I've done any thing like this.?? how do you hardened tool steel.
if I remember rightly you heat it up cherry red? then what water?

what I want to do is weld a piece of round bar(t/s) to a piece of flat bar for bending bright round bar on my hydraulic bender.try and say that when ya av a few pints

 

[Bigjoe]

Normally quench steel in oil i think,ive been told that old engibe is best but im not convinced on that one

 

[chap]

Heat to cherry, soak for enough time to ensure it's that temp all the way through.
I quence small items in water, though solid items might be better off in oil as it cools that much slower.. less likely to crack.
Carefull with the oil.. the smoke is rather nasty, so keep it moving under the oil and don't bring to the surface till cool enough.
To temper, polish up to remove blackening, gently heat to whichever colour to achive the hardness you want, quench in water.

Make the odd tool from silver steel or ground flat stock at work.

 

[pedrobedro]

PDF here, it's a bit technical though. I go with O1 tool steel heated to non magnetic, hold it in a flame and heat it till it is dull red and try a magnet on it checking for when it becomes non magnetic. Warm the oil before you quench it and it will need tempering after hardening to stop it being brittle. We don't quench after tempering making knife blades, heat in the domestic oven to 250* for an hour then leave to cool on it's own to temper. Times can vary a lot with thicker sections.