Thread: Crucible steel file

I have had problems with forging without annealing. Couldn't drill pinning holes. May have had something to do with the temperatures during forging. I will continue to anneal before forging.
Respectfully,
Skipnord

Originally Posted by Bruno

Keep in mind that this is only important if you are only going to use stock removal.
If you are going to forge, annealing up front will not do anything.

Just a thought, but if that file is still fully hardened, is there actually ANY NEED to further heat treat it?

It might be hard enough as is, no?

There is a previous post about doing it this way. Do a file razor search. You have to be very careful with heat build up as you grind. If you go over 380 to 400 degrees, the hardness is shot. It is possible, but you need to be very careful, and have ice water close at hand.

Originally Posted by skipnord

I have had problems with forging without annealing. Couldn't drill pinning holes. May have had something to do with the temperatures during forging. I will continue to anneal before forging.
Respectfully,
Skipnord

You should anneal after forging. Annealing before forging will not do much because the forging process itself will leave the metal in a semi hardened state. The only way to have any knowledge about the state of a forged piece is either to harden it or anneal it. Not doing anything means that the piece can be either.

Bruno - we are talking about forging old files here. I prefer to anneal the file before I start forging it. This step may be unnecessary, but I just feel more comfortable with the process if I do this. Of course I will anneal and normalize after forging. And, I don't do this with a known content steel bar. If I have put in an unnecessary step, at least there is no harm done. Mike Blue - Is this step unnecessary????

No absolutely. There is no harm in it. The only downside is you have to wait until a piece is annealed instead of taking it out of the box and sticking it in the fire for the purpose of forging. That's all.

Well stage one of the forge build is complete...
I used a van rim and welded a piece of 3 inch steam pipe out from the centre hole where the hub would be. The steam pipe I cut and 90 degrees coming away from the forge and then goes to some flexi hose to my fan. It's all a bit trial and error at this stage but I'm keeping my fingers crossed. There is some drilled 3 inch plate sitting in the bottom over the pipe inlet. The mixture I have just literally just built up inside the rim, no idea how long it's going to take to go off hard. I'm eager to fire it up already!!! The legs I made of some angle I had knocking around and need to put cross members in yet to give it more stability.

Here's another big old file I've got that's got warranted cast steel stamped on. It an old Sheffield file. Would cast steel be suitable for using? I don't want to start cutting and grinding if I'm wasting my time. I don't know the technical properties of 'cast'

Here's a pic.....

Sorry, just done some research, cast steel has been used for a few hundred years to make razors!! My bad. . duuuhhhhhhh!!