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STORM / Re: Turned down hammers on Open Tops-Like to see pics, how to
« Last post by Professor Marvel on Today at 05:01:00 AM »1961
I like to use good old fashion automotive leaf and coil spring steel.
This is an excellent high carbon steel that can be used for a wide variety of implements
From knives to tongs, cold chisels, hot chisels, pry bars, and, well even springs!
It all depends on the tempering.
To harden generic carbon steel heat entire part (knife, hammer, whatever) until steel is
Non-magnetic.
For most common carbon steels this is at orange-red in a dim workshop.
Yellow is too hot, too close to burning the carbon out of the steel.
If you see sparks, that is the carbon burning out… bad juju
Once it is orange red ( a lot of folks use a magnet on a wire handle, its more accurate)
From orange red, Quickly quench in the appropriate fluid … usually oil .
There are also water quench steels, air quench steels, etc etc.
This hardens the steel . At this point it is uniformly brittle all the way thru.
The next step , you need to “temper” the item. For knives I like to have a harder edge and a softer
Spine so I gently heat the spine of the knife and watch the rainbow collors run towards the edge,
Stopping where I want it. By quenching it once more. Other folks go by strict temperature and the entire knife has a uniform Hardeness, like most factory knives.
IF you are not concerned about the hardness of the hammers spur, one can let it cool slowly in the air
Or wait until it fades to about black “black heat” and dump in water to just cool quickly.
Quenching at black heat does nothing for hardness as the austentite ( carbon crystaline structure) has to be nonmagnetic is order to align the structure (making it hard) and the fast quench sort of freezes the alignment in place.
Many ancient smiths (and some modern ones) insist on quenching a knife or sword horizontally and aligning
It with magnetic north, the theory being that this enhances the magnetic alignemtn of the austentite
At the moment of quenching.
There is also “normalizing” in which you bring steel up to red-orange then bury it in ashes to let it cool slowly, making the steel deliberatelly soft for ease of cutting and filing.
It is handy when forging, if one is as unskilled as I am, I forge it as far as I can, then normalize for easy finish work, then heat treat. My several mentors were so skilled they would forge an item to the final shape
With no filing or grinding needed, except for final fitting!
Lastly, most C&B revolver hammers I have played with were only case hardened for the important bits.
One wants to protect this around the wear parts and the cock and half cock notches, etc.
Hope this helps
I like to use good old fashion automotive leaf and coil spring steel.
This is an excellent high carbon steel that can be used for a wide variety of implements
From knives to tongs, cold chisels, hot chisels, pry bars, and, well even springs!
It all depends on the tempering.
To harden generic carbon steel heat entire part (knife, hammer, whatever) until steel is
Non-magnetic.
For most common carbon steels this is at orange-red in a dim workshop.
Yellow is too hot, too close to burning the carbon out of the steel.
If you see sparks, that is the carbon burning out… bad juju
Once it is orange red ( a lot of folks use a magnet on a wire handle, its more accurate)
From orange red, Quickly quench in the appropriate fluid … usually oil .
There are also water quench steels, air quench steels, etc etc.
This hardens the steel . At this point it is uniformly brittle all the way thru.
The next step , you need to “temper” the item. For knives I like to have a harder edge and a softer
Spine so I gently heat the spine of the knife and watch the rainbow collors run towards the edge,
Stopping where I want it. By quenching it once more. Other folks go by strict temperature and the entire knife has a uniform Hardeness, like most factory knives.
IF you are not concerned about the hardness of the hammers spur, one can let it cool slowly in the air
Or wait until it fades to about black “black heat” and dump in water to just cool quickly.
Quenching at black heat does nothing for hardness as the austentite ( carbon crystaline structure) has to be nonmagnetic is order to align the structure (making it hard) and the fast quench sort of freezes the alignment in place.
Many ancient smiths (and some modern ones) insist on quenching a knife or sword horizontally and aligning
It with magnetic north, the theory being that this enhances the magnetic alignemtn of the austentite
At the moment of quenching.
There is also “normalizing” in which you bring steel up to red-orange then bury it in ashes to let it cool slowly, making the steel deliberatelly soft for ease of cutting and filing.
It is handy when forging, if one is as unskilled as I am, I forge it as far as I can, then normalize for easy finish work, then heat treat. My several mentors were so skilled they would forge an item to the final shape
With no filing or grinding needed, except for final fitting!
Lastly, most C&B revolver hammers I have played with were only case hardened for the important bits.
One wants to protect this around the wear parts and the cock and half cock notches, etc.
Hope this helps
