Collins rafting on crack (relapsed and OD'd)

I must say lump hardwood charcoal is the way to go! It burns very hot and combine that with the shop vac bellows and you get one red hot axe head rather quickly.

I kept the poll nonmagnetic for at least 5 minutes and quenched it in the 5 gallon bucket of water. I used a little Jet Dry too and all seemed well. I tested it with a file before moving on and the metal felt exactly the same as before, yet again. I continued on and did the bit too but this time I "polished" it to see how far the color was moving. Occasionally I squirt a little water on the poll again too. After quenching the bit I found that the color had not reached the poll but stopped about midway up the eye. It was good to see that there should be no worries about the second heat treat tempering the first one.

Upon filing the bit I found that along with still being soft there is a hairline fracture about an inch down the edge from the toe. This hairly fracture is visible on both sides and runs perpendicular to the edge to about an inch and a half in the direction of the poll. It still rings like a bell but I think I have just killed this head for good. Not really much sense in moving forward with this axe head any longer.

If I ever feel the need to do something like this again I will get me some canola oil and per-heat it to 185 degrees or so before quenching. Working with used motor oil is a pain in the ass. All in all, it was a fun experiment and thanks for all the advice.
 
Now the thread tiltle make sense, bummer about the new crack.

Crack kilt one the best threads in a while.
 
This is absolutely the best thread I have read in here. Thanks everyone, I really appreciate it. Priceless information that I can't seem to find anywhere else, always turns up in this Forum. Hat's off to the Smart Bench here.
 
Just radiac the crack off by taking an even layer off the whole length of the axe! Not the best plan but it keeps you going with no need for a new head....
 
Gents,practically ALL of the above is is sadly misguided and and just plain wrong...It's a wonder that the axe,which is now irreparably ruined,did not fail sooner,as the torture it underwent was enormous,and radical.
I'm sorry to bear such sad tidings.....
It's possible to maybe start an Axe Heat Treating thread,but it'll nor be short,or brief,and there're some concepts that NEED to be understood for even the most basic HT of a Known,New,alloy....HT'ing "mystery" alloys,(let alone Older ones),is yet an order of magnitude more challenging....

And,i can only imagine that elsewhere on the Bladeforums such info is available.(personally i'd recommend asking here:http://www.bladesmithsforum.com/
 
Cracks and splits are usually a death sentence for axe heads and I am encouraged that there are well-meaning folks out there trying to repair them. But as you say jake there are right ways and wrong ways of doing things.
 
Yes Sir,300Six,that is,unfortunately,so...

And we Could discuss it here,step by step,systematically,but it'll be fairly involved....Probably impossible,without the folks doing much of their own research,to complement the data that can be compressed into this format,but mainly to Understand the Why's and Wherefores of HT....

The above attempt most strikingly is missing the very important element-Grain Size.Those interested can start by looking that up,followed by the concept of Normalising,which is a technique to control grain growth.

But many more of the very basic rules were neglected in an attempt above,so much so,that i'd recommend not doing ANY of the above in the way that it was attempted...

I'm sorry for the topic starter's loss,but it happens,more often than one cares to admit,even to folks vastly more experienced and systematic...
 
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