Striker steel question

[LRB]

You will also find it less violent than water when it enters.

 

[coaldust]

I make mine from old hay rack tines, forge them to shape and quench in brine solution. Good luck

 

[skunkskinner]

Some times i just heat em till red,throw em in the snow drift, or the mud puddle, if they pass the 10 foot drop on concrete test, there good to go.

 

[sickle hocks]

I'd like to give this project a try also..

Is it necessary to temper the handle part of the striker, or do you folks just harden the whole thing?

Also, when working high carbon steel I've heard that it is important not to work it above cherry red, but I am not sure why?? I have lots of farrier rasps to use, but because of their size it will take some forging to get them to something shaped like a striker...would be a lot easier with some heat..

thank you!

 

[LRB]

They really shouldn't pass that test. By doing so shows that the steel isn't fully hardened, but that pleases you, enough said.

 

[LRB]

In the forging, you need to be above cherry red to prevent micro cracking. The grain will become enlarged, but a normalizing proceedure before the heat treat will make it small again. I harden the entire striker, then torch temper the grip, or grips, or as much of them as possible.

 

[sickle hocks]

Thank you Wick! Not sure how I managed to get that so backwards. I will try one this weekend.

Hope I have it straight now. :hmm: Going to forge above cherry red. Then heat to critical temp and air cool to normalize. Then heat to critical temp and brine quench. Then torch temper the handles.

I admit I don't understand yet why I need to normalize before hardening...thought that in the hardening process I was going to get the grain size I was after by definition, regardless of what went before...or do you mean that I just can't go straight from forging to hardening without letting it cool?

 

[LRB]

After the forging, heat above critical. Let cool to ambient. Heat again to about critical. Let cool. Then heat a third time below critical. A low red heat, then let cool. That should bring the grain to a fine size. One problem here is, what is critical? Many smiths consider critical heat to be non-magnetic. In todays terms, critical heat is the ideal temp at which a given steel will go into a full homogenous solution. This varies with different steels. Non-magnetic is not hot enough to bring a hypereutectic steel to a full solution for the quench. In this case, critical would be ideally around 1475°, whereas non-magnetic is 1414°. If going by eye, your critical heat will be a full shade of red above the color of non-magnetic, and to most eyes, a good red-orange. You might experiment with a piece of scrap using table salt which melts at 1474°, then take note of the color of the steel when this occurs.

 

That's a good suggestion with the table salt, I'll have to give it a try.

I'd mention too it's best to look at the color of hot steel in subdued lighting. I've been at hammer ins where people were trying to get to critical in bright sunlight and way overheated the metal. Different ambient light will make the colors brighter or darker. I do all my heat treating in the afternoon and a shaded smithy with the lights off. I'm sure you've heard of smiths that only heat treated on a full moon night or such? That was to get as close the same lighting conditions as consistently possible.

 

[LRB]

A very good point about lighting and colors. Always try to maintain the same light quality when using color to HT by.

 

[sickle hocks]

Thank you, I'll normalize as you describe...and you've forced me to study!

Found a great tutorial on alloy phase diagrams and grain formation. Had to go through it right from the start to understand what they were talking about...stuck with it and by the time I got to the section on steels I could Finally see clearly what was happening, and why hypereutectic steels (hypereutectoids?) need to be above magnetic for a homogeneous solution. :thumbsup:
It doesn't go into what happens with a quench, but it was still a great start, and do-able over morning coffee. Would recommend to anyone interested(temps are in C) It looks like quenching must interrupt the diffusion process...
Link

Apologies for thread drift...

 

[gmarc]

The best text I know of on this science is: "Alloying Elements in Steel" by Edgar C Bain. (For whom Bainite is named)

Published in 1946, it is still used in advanced material science courses.

 

[sleepingbear]

I have been using Hay Rake tines from Tractor Supply (1410517) to make a small basic striker. I get consistent results from this steel (I make a lot of them).

 

[Rifleman1776]

hypereutectic steels (hypereutectoids?) need to be above magnetic for a homogeneous solution.

Huhhhh??? Wadda he say?
Are you allowed to talk like that here? We do have children watching you know. :wink:
Now I know why I either buy my strikers or get them in trade. did the Mountain Men talk like that? :haha: