what steel

[BrokenBiker]

I want to make some punches.

i want a centre punch and some parallel punches, granted i could buy them but i want some weird sized parallel punches for gun work, plus i like making tools like this as they are fairly simple and you know that they have been made and hardened properly

can you get decent hexi bar that will harden and temper, or shall i just go with round tool steel, or mild steel and case harden?

if i go down the case harden route, what is the best way to turn coal lumps into powder to use as a case hardening compound? ive tried smacking it with a hammer but it just makes a mess

 

[711jrp]

How about starting with square Key steel ?

 

[BrokenBiker]

hadn't considered square, will look into that

 

[scott0031]

I want to make some punches.

i want a centre punch and some parallel punches, granted i could buy them but i want some weird sized parallel punches for gun work, plus i like making tools like this as they are fairly simple and you know that they have been made and hardened properly

can you get decent hexi bar that will harden and temper, or shall i just go with round tool steel, or mild steel and case harden?

if i go down the case harden route, what is the best way to turn coal lumps into powder to use as a case hardening compound? ive tried smacking it with a hammer but it just makes a mess

The first choice that is easy to get is silver steel, anything else will be harder to source. Silver is readily available in 12 in lengths and up to 3 meters. I have not known it to be available in hex, so round it will probably be.

You may struggle with trying to use mild steel as you will find it difficult to get a decent hardness depth if doing it at home with kasinit or such like, not so much of problem for the parallel punches, but wont be a lot of use for a centre punch. Really silver steel is tough cookie even without treating. It would probably do what you want parallel punch wise with no hardening and tempering. If you want to still harden the parallel punches you must remember to temper them down to the blue range of heats. The tip of a centre punch in the straw range the rest in the blue range. Its pretty vital you get to grips with tempering properly, if ya don't it could leave areas glass hard, which is not good if they shatter with no safety specs on.


Kind regards,


Scott

 

[BrokenBiker]

cheers scot, ive just found silver steel on ebay quite cheap.

ive done hardening and tempering before quite a bit, knives and form tools and so on

 

[scott0031]

How about starting with square Key steel ?

Key steel is not that special. Its more about size and being tough enough to be used as a key. Without checking it think it will come under the lower carbon scale of things. In turn it will probably be not a a good one to use for hardening. That said, have never personally tried it to find out because I tend to use the right material for the job, so no need for me to try really.



Kind regards,


Scott

 

[scott0031]

cheers scot, ive just found silver steel on ebay quite cheap.

ive done hardening and tempering before quite a bit, knives and form tools and so on

Welcome. Ok great stuff you will know all about letting the heat travel then to get the desired colours at the desired points.. I wasn't meanings to teach you how to suck eggs. More safety so no nasty shocks or injuries..

Good luck and let us know how you get on.


Kind regards,


Scott

 

[Paul.]

I used to buy key steel in 3m lengths, its just EN8 nothing special, I make my own punches and scribers from silver steel, I bought a couple of 12" tubes of assorted stubbs stock for next to nothing from someone who didn't know what it was,

 

[BrokenBiker]

i will go with silver steel then. Its readily available, fairly cheap and easy to work with.

thanks all

 

[Pete.]

http://www.homeworkshop.org.uk/index.php?option=com_adsmanager&view=show_ad&adid=18567&catid=2

 

[Lawnmowerboy]

I thought key steel was en6a yellow and red bar end. En42 is alright. If not 01 heat treated and tempered down would be fine.

 

[wyn]

For working on a couple of my air rifles i have made aluminium punches to try to prevent any damage to surrounding blued steelwork.

 

[BrokenBiker]

For working on a couple of my air rifles i have made aluminium punches to try to prevent any damage to surrounding blued steelwork.

i have a mage zinc plating my 99s action and barrel so shouldn't be a problem. Its more for shotguns though as the older aya that i have gets quite stiff