As far as having any knowlege of the shock absorber shaft alloy, treatment
etc.. frayed knot.
Really Tough Stuff would be a good general description, though.

I know there are some woodworkers that participate regularly in RCM
discussions, and that shock rods have been discussed here in detail
previously.

Checking the archives of RCM and woodworking Goog groups with the Advanced
Groups Search should produce some accurate descriptions of the specific
steel type and home shop treatments.. entering the group name and date span
(onl the past several years, for example) and a few selective terms should
get fairly good results).

http://groups.google.com/advanced_search?q=&

I mentioned carbide since many home shop fabricators use commercially
manufactured brazed carbide-tipped wood cutting tools universally for
cutting aluminum, for example (typically with a stick wax or other cutting
lubricant).

Another material that can be brazed to the end of tool shafts is HSS-high
speed steel. It's economical, readily available and can hold a Scary
Sharp(r) edge.
The scary sharp term is somewhat more important when using HSS to cut
relatively soft materials (wood, plastics or even rubber, compared to
metals).

--
WB
..........
metalworking projects
www.kwagmire.com/metal_proj.html


"JoanD'arcRoast" wrote in message
. ..
In article ,
Wild_Bill wrote:


The little info that I've gained about fashioning woodworking turning
tools
is that some wood lathe users make their tools from the shafts recovered
from heavy duty car/truck shock absorbers.

Any clue as to what type of steel and treatment (for instance case
hardening) used in the manufacture of shock absorber shafts?


I dunno if there would be any advantage to using carbide at the tip of
wood
turning tools (other than it would be slightly more difficult to acquire
in
larger pieces, and to grind to complex shapes), but brazing a carbide
insert
to the end of a rod would seem to me to be much simpler than what you
were
suggesting, and man.. do I like simple.
When the carbide cutting tip becomes too small to resharpen, heat it up,
knock it off and replace it with another piece.

I have made a carbide hollower for end-grain work. Carbide doesn't seem
to give as slick and smooth a finish cut as a freshly sharpened steel
tool, however.

Thanks,
-j