stupid steel question

[oldold442]

lets say you have a hardened piece of steel lying around. lets say its a file just for example. could you just throw it into your forge, and get it to red hot, and start beating the hell out of it on your anvil? would it have to go through any process before you did it? thanks

 

[David Wesner]

Why do I have a feeling that this is a trick question I'll bite.

Bring it up to forge temp and start your hammering. When you're finished forging, normalize then anneal for drilling/milling etc., When you're finished with that segment, harden & temper > finish grind > guard/handle

 

[oldold442]

why would you have to anneal after forging, if it cools slowly will it still be too hard to file, drill....

 

[deker]

why would you have to anneal after forging, if it cools slowly will it still be too hard to file, drill....

Yes. You have to have it very slowly cool in order to achieve the annealed state. You'll burn up drill bits and it will be harder to grind if you don't.

-d