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Carbon Steel Strip: Saw Plate Sheared and Annealed Soft
Thin carbon steel strip, soft enough to punch, file and score: the stock for utility-knife blades, hacksaw blades and hole saws, which are hardened only after they are shaped. Start from crucible steel rolled to gauge, cut it into strips with plate shears, then anneal it the way Harcourt's Elementary Forge Practice (1920) gives for tool steel: cherry red, about 1400 °F, and buried in perfectly dry ashes until cold.
Cutting strips instead of saw outlines and the file test are ours. The picture is our drawing.
Beginner
1 day (cooling overnight)
Instructions
1
1
Roll the plate
Roll the plate
Roll crucible steel to the gauge the blades need, as in this blueprint. Stop before the saw outlines are sheared.
2
2
Mark the strips
Mark the strips
Scribe lines along the plate, one strip width apart. The width is whatever the blades need (ours).
Materials for this step:
Saw Plate Steel Sheet1 pieceTools needed:
Scriber
Straightedge3
3
Shear into strips
Shear into strips
Cut along the lines with plate shears, as Grimshaw's saw plates are cut to outline after rolling.
Tools needed:
Plate Shears4
4
Fill a bucket with dry ash
Fill a bucket with dry ash
Fill an iron bucket with ashes. They must be perfectly dry, so they conduct heat poorly and the steel cools slowly. Dry slaked lime also works.
Tools needed:
Hardwood Ash
Metal Bucket5
5
Heat to cherry red
Heat to cherry red
Heat the strips evenly in the forge to a cherry red, about 1400 °F (760 °C). No hotter: overheated steel goes coarse in the grain and weak.
Tools needed:
Blacksmith Forge
Blacksmith Tongs
Welding Gloves6
6
Bury and leave until cold
Bury and leave until cold
Bury the strips in the ash at once and leave them until they are entirely cold, overnight. The slower they cool, the softer they are.
Tools needed:
Blacksmith TongsMetal BucketWelding Gloves7
7
Check it is soft
Check it is soft
Brush off the ash and stroke a corner with a file: it should bite easily. If it skates, anneal again (our test).
Tools needed:
Metal FileMaterials
1- 1 piecePlaceholder
Tools Required
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