Snell & Atherton blades

[George Clark]

Does anyoue know of a source for replacement blades for the various Snell & Atherton heel shaves? I have a couple that I want to modify for a chairmakers tool but the blades are about used up... thanks.

George

[Johnny Kleso]

If you check my websites Heat Treating page it should be a snap to harden some 0-1 for them.. If I remember the two I have use something like 1/32" thic stock.. If you buy it soft from enco you can grind of file it to shape then harden it..

The hard part is polishing the blade face or (back)

All you need is a large 1/2 tin can and a hair dryer and a bag of charcoal..


www.rexmill.com (http://www.rexmill.com) > Heat Treating

[George Clark]

Johnny,

Thanks for responding. I must be missing something. I find no reference on your heat treating page to using charcoal and a hair drier. I assume one puts the blade in a charcoal fire and uses the hair drier to add O2 to the fire to increase the temp. How do I tell when the part has reached the proper temp? Is annealing necessary after hardening? If so how? Thanks.

George

[Johnny Kleso]

Hi George,
Its been a few years since I wrote the text and it was in a hurry at the time :(

I thought I had added text to discribe the Large #10 Tin Can Method..

You can also use a flower pot for such a small blade...
When the steel gets red almost orange stick it striaght down into warm cooking or motor oil.....


I said use 1/32 thick steel but looking back I would say use 1/16 as its less likely to bend and cost less too..

You can use a abrasive cut off wheel and cut up a old Stanley blade..
Just make sure it dosent turn brown or blue at your cutting edge or you will loose the temper (hardness)

[Craig J Brain]

I am currently looking at making some new blades for my Snell & Atherton heel shaves to use for woodworking.
I’ve started compiling data for the different types of shaves, but discovered that there are some differences between the ages of the shaves. Does anyone have a few of these handy that they can take the time to measure up and post here?
Thanks very much,
Craig