Newbie question re: Leaf springs

donnord

donnord

Gold Member
Joined
Dec 22, 2007
Messages
406
I picked some leaf spring pieces from an old pick up and want to make a blade from them. However I do not have a forge, so for annealing I was wondering if it is feasible to heat the pieces about 1/4" thick, by 3" x 9" with a propane torch. I doubt I will be able to get 1500 deg in my solo stove. With the torch I was thinking it will be hard to get even heat on the piece, so maybe best case is to heat the bend and hit it with a hammer. Then grind away and sort out the the rest by sending it to Texas knife for heat treating when done. I have not called them yet but having them anneal the pieces is probably the smartest thing to do.
 
I doubt you'll ever get the metal hot enough to anneal with a handheld propane torch and by the time you spend the money to ship and pay for annealing you can buy good steel cheaper. AKS (Alpha Knife Supply) has good prices for small amounts of steel
 
I completely agree with you Ken. Texas Knife supply is pretty close to me and they always have small amounts of steel for cheap. I was looking to do something with the leaf spring pieces to learn a little bit and experiment. I may try to use the fire box of my smoker with a leaf blower on the bottom vent.
 
donnord donnord , hey man there are a bunch of folks near you that are well equipped to help you out with your experiments.

Don't ruin your smoker trying to get steel hot enough, just look up some of the "Texas knife makers guild" guys in Houston and get some real equipment to work with.

J Jason Fry is the Pres. Of the guild and can probably point you on the right direction.
 
Thanks all for the information. For now the project is on hold. I will get in touch with the Guild.
 
I just happened to catch this- I have some leaf springs laying round from a truck project I've been working on.
I figured I could use charcoal and a leaf blower inside brick stack to anneal the springs.
Am I off the mark?
 
You could get a kinda half-assed anneal doing it that way. You might also burn the end of the steel that is closest to the air source.

If you're not too concerned about quality it might work ok... Heat it up to non-magnetic with a big whack of scrap steel then bury both in vermiculite right next to each other and let it cool over night. It'll be softer the next day. Probably.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top