hardend steel

[jim dumer]

I was playing with a old chisel maybe trying a knife or something but I kept breaking it when I was drawing it out. My question is do I have to normalize the steel first? Or the metal I could be using.
Thanks Jim

[Jim Moenck]

Hi Jim, if you are working only the hot portion of the chisel you should not have to a anneal it. But if you are working on the hot end and go a bit too far up the stock into the colder(er) portion, you could be hitting on hardened steel thus causing it to break. Just to be safe I would anneal the entire piece before forging it. Another possibility is that you may be working it too cold, or even too hot. Bring it out of the fire at a high red or low yellow heat, and put it back in the fire when it gets to a low red heat. Experiment to see what works best for you.

[jim dumer]

Thank You for the ideas JIM