On Mon, 10 Sep 2007 08:07:11 -0700, Neillarson
wrote:

You are correct, I don't really want tool steel but I wasn't sure what
to call it. Now that I look back, it is "Cold Rolled Steel" that is
used on the Oland toolds and on Darrell site.

Of course, now the question is, what the h*ll is cold rolled steel?

It's just plain low-to-medium carbon steel that has been formed cold.
No need to worry too much about that, or even what it means, really-
it's commonly availible at just about any hardware store. The ends
should be color-coded, but it they're not, the cold-rolled bars should
be smooth, while hot-rolled is a little rough, and usually still has
some scale on it.

As far as the square hole goes, broaching is a fine idea, but it might
be more than you care to invest in. (To be honest, I've only done it
with a machine, and don't know if a guy can do it by hand or not.)
I've got the same project on my to do list, and my plan is to drill a
hole in the end of the bar whose diameter is the same as the width of
the tool bits I've got for that project, and then heat the end of the
bar in my forge and hammer a blank toolbit into the hole to make it
square.

I'm going to go out on a limb here, and guess that you don't have a
forge handy, but we're not talking about a major blacksmithing job
here- there's a good chance that you'll be able to get it hot enough
to do the job with a hand-held propane torch, or even a charcoal grill
with a blower of some sort rigged up to get extra air into the coals.
You'll want the bar to be cherry-red, and the tool bit to be room
temperature.

If you do that, make sure to yank out the bit before the metal cools,
or it'll get stuck. If it does get stuck, heat it up again and pull
it out. Probably won't be easy to remove, but chances are it won't be
the hardest thing you've ever done, either, and you'll have a nice
square hole to show off- then you can just drill and tap a couple of
holes from the side, and hold your bits in place with a couple of set
screws.