On 11/17/2011 21:26, Tim Wescott wrote:
The washers won't come off when you want them to, and do come off when
you don't. I'm thinking up a few schemes to do a nicer job, some of
which would go a lot nicer if the steel were drawn a lot more than it
is. I don't want to go using my nice 5-44 die on hard steel, nor do I
want to try drilling .050" holes.

So: how to anneal, and how to just draw the temper a bit more? For
annealing I expect that I can just clamp the thing in my vise (both to
hold and to limit heat travel), get the end as hot as it'll get with a
propane torch, and let it cool. To just draw it, should I do something
like filing a spot shiny, then heating it to blue or purple, then letting
it cool? Or is there a better way to do this by eyeball methods?

Comments appreciated. I know how to make it work with rocks and sticks,
I'd just like pointers on using hammers and screwdrivers for the job...

Loctite (sleeve)bearing retainer would hold it..

Something like Loctite 638:
http://www.sjgogo.com/pdf/638-en.pdf

Depending on how permanent you want it to be, select a compound
that releases by heating or such..