striker steel

[Wanders]

Heat it up white hot and the swish it through the water of your quenching tub. You have to move it in the water, otherwise you get a "jacket" of steam around the metal and it won't quench properly.
Wanders :v

 

[Wanders]

You won't get it hot enough by putting it in a fire. You have to harden it. A wood fire only gets up around 1000 degrees, charchol gets hotter, but not really hot enough. It needs a coal fire of around 2500 degrees. Heat it up white hot and then quench it. I make them from files I pick up at garage sales, etc, and they make great strikers.
Wanders :hatsoff:

 

[paulvallandigham]

If you take it up to proper heat( Cherry Red for most steels) or just below the temperature where the steel beings to burn, throwing off sparks like a sparkler, the structure of the steel in those old times should reform. If you then allow the steel to cool you should be able to work it with ordinary files, or you can reheat and work it to rough shape with hammers and fullers. Sometimes running a good sized magnate across the heated steel in that hot red state helps to aligned the molecules and restores the integrity of the steel. The real problem is that often the metallurgy used in making those tines is suspect, and they steel does not have as much carbon as it needs. If the cracks reappear, I suspect you need to try some other steel. The stuff you have is too soft, or possible to brittle. All that depends on what other minerals are in the alloy. It is fine to play around with old sources of steel, if you are doing this kind of blacksmithing as a hobby. The reason the working smiths just order steel new is because they can't make any money fooling around with an unknown product. Time is really money in the business. You might find them playing around with old stuff at a weekend demonstration, just to see what they might have, after they have made the work they planned to get done for the day. If something doesn't work out, it can be the source of a presentation to all the people who stop by and want to know things about the metal and what is good or bad. But, during the workweek, these men and women are too busy to be fooling around with old rake tines, or other farm equipment sources.

 

[skunkskinner]

I used a harrow tine this time and it seems to work well.This one is 4 inches I thought I would like it but I can see that a smaller one is better for me.Thanks for the advice on the steel type.

 

[Wanders]

I think you're right about the composion of the steel. It reminds me of cast pot metal in some respects. I volunteer at a living history farm, which is where my forge is at and where the rake tines are at too. So, in my case, I can fool around with them as much as I please- unlike the smith who's concerned with expenses and producion. Most of the visitors are happiest when I burn a piece of steel!
Wanders :haha: