Howdy to ya'all from Texas

[thdjr]

Howdy'all, don't you just love this weather? cold, wet, and still rainin!!! but the good thing, I'm in the shop. whitch brings me to my qustion. I'm making a spring for my powder flask. and I cant get it springy eough, I heat it, and cool it, frist i tried water, too britle, then I tried coolin it in oil. but it just don't spring back. somebody tell me what I'm doing wrong.. I've made mainsprings before, and they work good, but this one is abit thin.about 1/8". Oh by the way, I'm kinda new here, but after readin a bit, I feel right at home, just like Texas boys, move right in and set up camp. whats fer supper? :grin: :yakyak: you'all have any ideas on that round flask spring let me know, I know I could buy one, but why? I like maken'em. well I hope i can anyway

 

[Tom Gauldin]

Greetings Texas,

Good to have you. :thumbsup:

Your question might be answered in other areas of the forum. Check out the other topics to find the one you might get an answer from.

 

[thdjr]

You know, the more i wonder around in here the better i like it, you sure have some interesting stuff, some i knew, some i didn't. if I aint carefull, i might get smart, and we sure don't want that. then people would want me to do more work. and I hate to work. :bow:

 

[omarick1948]

Yep!....He's from Texas!.. :bull:

Just having fun with ya'all..welcome to the forum!

Rick :haha:

 

[FPDoc]

You want to harden it as hard as it will get like you did with water.. that's the hardening.. brittle.. to get the spring part without the brittle part..you need to temper it.. reduce that hardness by heating it, usually by laying it on a hot piece of metal or probably better a molten lead bath for something shaped like a spring to get full and even coverage. The hardness comes from the initial quench and the springy without breaking from the temper. Both depend on the exact composition of the steel you picked. You could try some straight pieces of the thickness you need without the fancy shaping to work out the hardening/tempering particulars. With larger pieces you quench, then polish, then temper until the particular oxidation color you wish.. blue purple straw etc. shows up. with a spring you probably want it all the same so the bath method is likely better. You can use an oven if you know the temp you want and you can get temperature crayons that melt at a specific point that is used in heat treating ovens etc. for small parts. Not that any of this is anything you don't know if you've made springs before. Probably just a bit more critical with a smaller thinner spring.

 

[FPDoc]

I seem to recall someone laying the hardened spring in a shallow tin, like an altoid or sardine can with a little motor oil in it and heating the oil until it catches fire then letting it burn completely out, not blown out. The dirty gummy spring left in the bottom should be tempered (depending of course on the composition of the steel used.

 

[thdjr]

yeap, works pretty good. turned out pretty good, well not bad. but it works. the hard part was getting the pin in the right place to hold the spring, but I got'er whooped out. only took me two days. :thumbsup: I like doing stuff like this, making it with your hands, it's fun, the funny part the woman that lives here told me i was stupid, she found the spring for $3.50 somewhere on the internet, and i worked fer 2 days on this one. I told her i would like to trade her for a hawkin gun. Doctor said I should be able to see in a few days and he didn't think thered be any permanent damage :rotf: :surrender:

 

[davy]

Those skillets up side the head will do that they say! :hmm: :grin: Welcome aboard .. shucks we are neigbors ... onlyiest live 50 mile apart! :shocked2: :hatsoff:

Davy