"JMartin957" wrote in message
...
I agree. Spring steel is not the steel of choice. Good tools are made
of tool steel. You can purchase small pieces of hardend tool steel
from L.S. Starrett. You may find some sizes that are what you kneed
and would not have to harden it yourself.


I think you'll find that the tool steel is sold in the annealed, or soft,
condition. Machine and then harden.

John Martin

Sorry,, I think that you are all wrong.

Blue steel. This is the color that you temper spring steel to for wood
working tools. Soft enough to take an impact without chipping and hard
enough to take an edge.

A spring from an older junker car would work fine for this. The ABS
(american bladesmith society) school used to order its standard carbon steel
for forged knives from a car spring manufacturer. I do belive it was 1095
steel.


Rough it to shape. leave the edge with about 1/16th of an edge. Heat until
a magnet will not stick. Quench in a mineral oil or used/new motor
oil/diesel mix.(This hardens it.) Polish with sand paper (enough to see
colors on the edge.) heat the back of the tool. you can watch the colors
run towards the edge. It starts off light and gets darker. ( this is
tempering, it makes the tool usable.) with out tempering the tool will be
extreemly hard and brittle.

A straw color is for knives. blue or indego for carving tools that are
tapped with a hammer. An ax or other striking tool would be inbetween.
When you get the color that you want, dunk in water to cool. If you went
too far, reharden and try again.


Bill,,,,,,
(Made a few knives)