Froe

[mr haney]

I need to straighten some leaf spring to make a small froe. The material is 2.25x.25" i am planning to use the eye for the handle and dont wont to change the charter of the metal much so would like to avoid heating.
Do you think i can get under a loaded log trailer with some blocks and hyd. jack and carefully jack the piece straight like 2" at a time?

 

[soggy]

:hmm: I doubt it!.......... Be very careful; Springs and hydraulic jacks don't make for a good combination :shake: :shake:
Soggy

 

[mr haney]

Yea it gives me some concerns but as long as i use wood on steel and dont take big bites. Ive straighted saw bars like this before. A press sure would be sweet.

 

[BillinOregon]

Mr. Haney: I've got a leaf spring froe on my to-do list as well. I plan to heat and shape mine in my charcoal forge and to heck with the temper, as a froe doesn't need much hardness to do its work, assuming you will use a traditional hardwood maul on the blade and not a steel sledge. An old froe user told me that the froe does its best splitting with a dull edge.

 

[mr haney]

Yes sir i agree a sharp edge cuts and that aint what it is about. I would like to keep the temper to keep from twisting the froe. Or if it does twist a little will come back when pressure is released.

I was posting another question about mallets about the same time you were answering this post.
Thank you

 

Haney,

I don't think you're gonna be able to do this without heating it. If you try using a jack to straighten it, be careful and wear your football pads. :shocked2: Plus you'll need to shape the eye a bit to fit the handle and that will require heat. Quenching and tempering a froe isn't all that necessary. Its not so much a cutting tool as a handled wedge. I wouldn't worry as much about the temper. Heat that sucker with a torch to bend it and use a piece of scrap metal and a grinder to make a drift for shaping the eye.

Sean

 

[mr haney]

Yes sir
I use a froe pretty often. If i need to heat it i will heat it.
Thank you

 

[mr haney]

Got it done 6" vice and a 4' cheater pipe.

 

[BillinOregon]

Mr. Haney: Howsabout a photo of your froe?

 

[rich pierce]

You can't straighten a spring w/o heating it. You will either break it, or break yourself, but not flatten a curved spring by force w/o heating. You'll need to forge the edge anyway or else wear out 4 grinding wheels and fill your nose with a few cups of black gunk.

 

[mr haney]

Sir perhaps you can not straighten a small leaf spring w/o heat. I have not set such limitations on myself. I have been gone since the morning of the 15th over the next couple of evenings i will figure out how to post pictures. So that you may see what someone who does not limit themselves can easily do.

 

[djnye]

i disagree. a proper tool should not be dull and sometimes cutting fibers is part of what it's about(this is not a perfect world). much more important is the profile and condition of the froe's side faces. they need to be kept smooth and clean and in profile need to not be flat, but rather have some "cheek" to them.

just some thoughts from a greenwood worker.

take care, daniel