Source of Spring Steel to make a hammer/grip spring? For Antique .32

I made springs from old garage door springs.
Process is like this, make spring, heat it white hot, dunk it in cold water. Its going to be brittle at this point so do not bend, get fine sand paper and polish the spring until shiny white. hang it in the air by the mounting point and heat it with torch slowly until it starts to get royal or light blue in color. stop at that point and let it cool off by air slowly. Polish it if desired. Its done now.
 
gewehr76 said:
I made springs from old garage door springs.
Process is like this, make spring, heat it white hot, dunk it in cold water. Its going to be brittle at this point so do not bend, get fine sand paper and polish the spring until shiny white. hang it in the air by the mounting point and heat it with torch slowly until it starts to get royal or light blue in color. stop at that point and let it cool off by air slowly. Polish it if desired. Its done now.
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That would be quite a bit too hard for the drill rod that I use. I am guessing that drill rod is about 1090 but that is a guess. Before I bought a lead thermometer, I would float a thin piece of iron / steel on top of the lead (spring already in the pot) and when the temperature rose to the transition from dark blue to grey, pull the plug out and leave the spring in the lead until just before it started to freeze. Also worth mentioning that the colours and temperatures given in blacksmithing books seem to be way haywire for making springs.

cheers mooncoon
 
piper394 said:
yeah, it seems to be hard to light , but when you get it to burn it still works. lots of different ways to get the same effect. It's all good info.
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I tried adding a bit of kerosene to the oil and that helped a bit but seemed to burn away faster than the motor oil. Also adding a couple of small pieces of cloth to work like wicks. Used oil burned better than new oil but ultimately molten lead saved a lot of fuss and bother and is very repeatable

cheers mooncoon
 
Yes it all depends on the metal and carbon content. There are so many ways to do it and it comes with experience of making those things. What works for one smith may not work for other. Books are just fine as reference material, you have to come up with your own method and that is only comes from making springs.

mooncoon said:
That would be quite a bit too hard for the drill rod that I use. I am guessing that drill rod is about 1090 but that is a guess. Before I bought a lead thermometer, I would float a thin piece of iron / steel on top of the lead (spring already in the pot) and when the temperature rose to the transition from dark blue to grey, pull the plug out and leave the spring in the lead until just before it started to freeze. Also worth mentioning that the colours and temperatures given in blacksmithing books seem to be way haywire for making springs.

cheers mooncoon
Click to expand...
 
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