On Sat, 29 Oct 2016 01:26:10 -0400, Bill
wrote:

OFWW wrote:
On Fri, 28 Oct 2016 23:55:21 -0400, Ed Pawlowski wrote:

snip
Is there a minimum standard for HSS? Reason I ask is some say their
bits are, yet there is a huge difference in quality.

Not sure if there is a standard, but when cost is more important than
quality, heat treating may not be as good as another brand.
This last comment reminded me of 8th grade metal shop when we made our
own chisels. The point was to pound out the 3/8" Hex cold rolled
steel, flatten it on both sides equally, file it, then heat treat it
by open flame and sand and oil for tempering. I forgot which came
first, oil or sand,

Sand is obviously for slower cooling, for removing some of the
brittleness of your hardened edge.
We made a center punch and a screw driver (among other things) in my 8th
grade class.

Bill


Come to think of it so did we. I remember turning the knurl on the
center punch on the metal lathe. Thought it was so cool, and then just
to operate the lathe, what a trip.

Thanks for the memories.



but watching the heat travel up the shaft with all
its colors was intriguing, especially the blue. Then we had to shape
and sharpen the bit, and finally cut something in half. I've forgotten
what.

I'll never forget the look on some of the kids faces when their chisel
tip shaped itself to the object we were to cut off, knowing my time
was coming, and fearful that my chisel would meet the same fate. Well,
my chisel passed with flying colors and you couldn't even tell when
looking at the edge that it had cut anything. I don't even remember
what the grade was on it, but I was very happy, and couldn't wait to
show my Dad. I'd swear that even today it is the best chisel I ever
had, and as yet I have never had to re sharpen it. But I really don't
like to use it unless it cannot be helped since a small chisel is
sometimes the only tool for the job.

I have found that on Craftsman Chisels you pretty much have to flatten
the tips, then regrind the tip to get to the hardened material, and
that was over 30 years ago. Like some of the drill bits people have
mentioned here, good ones seem to last forever.

And like you said, re sharpening any tool is almost a given due to
mass production standards.