Question for all you crafty tool makers.

[mjm46@bellsouth.net]

I haven't been doing this as long as many of yall. But I'm beginning to see the need tor specific shapes of chisels that I can't find in a store.

If, I have a chisel of about a 1/4" flat with a straight shaft and I want the shaft bent or doglegged slightly. This I think I can do pretty easily by heating and bending then quenching. My problem is do these need to be tempered or can they be left brittle hard? These are not mortising chisels and are not going to get great torque just pushed or gently driven with mallet towards the tip of the chisel. Can I form chisels from old files without tempering them after rehardening? I've never tried to bend a chisel shaft, my guess is that it would snap before it bent.

[horseman]

 If you'd rather not make them, Muzzleloader  Builders Supply has the off-sets for about eight dollars.  I think they have the 1/4 inch, too.

[mjm46@bellsouth.net]

Does anybody know about making chisles??   Can a file be made into a usable chisle? Can they be used brittle hard or do they require a temper.

[T*O*F]

Does anybody know about making chisles??

No, that must be some kind of French thingy.  However, many know how to make chisels.  It's cheaper to buy the aforementioned $8 ones made by Drew Hedgecock unless you place no value on your time.

Can a file be made into a usable chisle?

Yes

Can they be used brittle hard or do they require a temper.

Most files are too big, requiring a lot of grinding to reduce them.  Cheap needle files can be had in the bargain bin in many places.  You can carefully grind and stone them and use them "as is" if you don't overheat them in the process.

Bent chisels are known as "cranked" chisels.  If you want to make one of them from a file, you will need to bend it hot and then re-harden it.  Once hardened, heat with a propane torch about one inch from the tip. which must be highly polished.  You will see the color change and have to move the torch so it creeps the STRAW color toward the tip.  This does not require a lot of heat.  Just before the straw color reaches the tip, quench the tool.  You must quench, otherwise the heat behind it will continue to develop and you will overheat the tip.

[mjm46@bellsouth.net]

Does anybody know about making chisles??

No, that must be some kind of French thingy.  However, many know how to make chisels.  It's cheaper to buy the aforementioned $8 ones made by Drew Hedgecock unless you place no value on your time.

Sorry about that, sometimes my French ancestry creeps in. I appreciate the information, that's what I was looking for.

[smylee grouch]

Micah: I bought about half dozen old chisels at a flea market, put a good edge on them and then bent them at different angles to use as scrapers in the barrel channel. Used two propane torches to heat but didnt reharden, just resharpend them. They are not profesional grade but do work quite well.

[KNeilson]

Hi Micah , imho anything with a high enuf C content (.05>)could be used for a chisel.  The spot that needs to be hard is the cutting surface/end. If you could heat and bend without letting the cutting edge dis-colour, at the same time letting what you heated slowly cool, it more than likely will work. Working with unfamiliar steels is always a $#@* shoot until you discover how they like to be handled. I generally use cheap import tools to modify for single task use , mainly because half the work is done already. And then construct my own out of familiar steels. For cutting edges old files, bearing races work well. For punching/prying tools I like "old" car springs. Ive been told that pre mid sixties are pretty well just carbon steel. Not alloyed as much as modern ones.. The general way to look at making cutting tools..
1 st step.... heat and shape, forge,rough file or grind, followed by slow cool. avoid quenching
2 nd, Anneal to relieve stress.  This means re-heat and (really) slow cool in pre heated insulating medium (sand/ dying fire, BBQ etc)
3 rd, Heat treat... this has 2 steps in itself .... 1st is to harden, 2nd to temper
To harden...(step1)  heat to non-magnetic and quench in appropriate medium...
To temper...(step2),controlled softening) slowly raise temps to require amounts. this will change depend on tools use. If you are watching heat colours, cutting edges are usually from straw to deeper blue. I would start at straws. If your tools edge chips, temper to darker colour. If it bends, dont go past straws.
Remember books are written about such things, a good one is   http://books.google.com/books/about/The_Complete_Modern_Blacksmith.html?id=em2Xmi1_-GcC
Hope this helps.......    Kerry

[mjm46@bellsouth.net]

Thanks guys. That's what I was looking for.