choice of steel for floats

[Dan Barr]

wondering if harry strasil would kindly guide me to the right choice of steel for making my own floats.

A-2, O-1 or D-2.

Any other opinions would be appreciated as well.

I'm leaning towards O-1 right now.

Cheers,

Dan

[Tony Joyce]

I made one out of O-1. It's easy to cut and file and can be heat treated with a torch and oil. After I made mine Lie-Nielsen introduced planemakers floats at $50-60 each. I quickly decided I couldn't make them for that. I've since bought two of the joinery floats in addition to the two planemakers I had already. I believe Larry Williams discusses making floats on his video.
129373

[Doug Mason]

Made mine from 0-1 from ENCO. See link.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=99713&highlight=float

[george wilson]

Unless you have the means to heat treat A2,I suggest 01.

Here is a valuable tip: When you harden the floats,they will probably warp due to having different surface areas on each side(the teeth). you CAN straighten the floats,BUt only when they are heated up to temper them. First,heat them to just above red heat,and quench them vertically in oil. I use automatic transmission fluid. Vegetable oil works fine.

The float will be brittle as glass after hardening. sand off the back side of the float to expose clean metal,and carefully heat to a medium brown color. While the float is HOT,catch it between 2 thick dowel rods set side by side in a block of wood that is clamped in a vise firmly. I suggest 1' dowels about 1/2" apart. Stick the float between the dowels,and twist it straight. The steel will bend like a spring only while hot.

If you let the float get too cool,it will snap right off. To get more time,sand it again and reheat to brown again,and keep straightening.

I have made long half round reamers that warped like crazy,and have straightened them this way. you do need to work quickly.

To make a float that can be resharpened with a file,temper to a dark blue color.

[Barry Vabeach]

Dan, I used O -1 and didn't even harden them and they worked fine. Unless you are going to be using them a lot, you might want to try them without hardening because as George points out, they can warp.

[george wilson]

P.S. The method I have described is used for straightening files after hardening. It works fine,but don't let the steel get too cool. It also works on W1.

The floats will stay sharp for a little while without hardening,as said,but will cut a lot better if you do harden them.

For a little more durability if you DO NOT want to harden the floats,you could buy pre hardened 4140. It still files quite well. Unhardened tool steels aren't going to be much over 35 RC,and you'd want them to be about 52 RC for a good sawblade like spring temper. Trouble is,the ONLY saws that are that hard are ones made of 1095,like the best makers use. Other saws file like butter compared to it at 52 RC.

[Zach Dillinger]

Dan, I used O -1 and didn't even harden them and they worked fine. Unless you are going to be using them a lot, you might want to try them without hardening because as George points out, they can warp.

I don't use o-1 steel floats that often and I didn't want to take the time to harden them, as I needed them for a project ASAP. I've made a couple of planes and used them for general cleanup and they still cut fine. I intended to harden them after the project but I've never felt the need.

Zach

[Ron Petley]

01,W1, heat until a magnet will not stick to it , plunge it into your oil of choice, bake in sand at 375-400F for 2 hours.
Cheers Ron.

[Brian Sullivan]

I made one out of O-1. It's easy to cut and file and can be heat treated with a torch and oil. After I made mine Lie-Nielsen introduced planemakers floats at $50-60 each. I quickly decided I couldn't make them for that. I've since bought two of the joinery floats in addition to the two planemakers I had already. I believe Larry Williams discusses making floats on his video.
129373

Larry Williams shows how to sharpen floats in his video, but does not show how to make them. The sharpening part is available here (http://www.youtube.com/user/LieNielsen%20#play/uploads/19/h8-QB4pWoW0) . Don and Larry said at the WIA conference something like the shapes offered by L-N are the shapes that they use. So, when you make your floats, I suggest you base the shapes on the L-N ones.

[Brian Ashton]

I've made a few floats out of O1 and they take a long time to make. Iif I need anymore I'm going to buy some of these files from Lee Valley and shape them with a narrow cut off wheel to what I need. If they get dull I'll sharpen them with acid.

[Dan Barr]

thanks for the info.

I think im going to stick with O-1. Any suggestions on the quickest way to get all those teeth filed in?

regards,

dan

[george wilson]

You could save some file work by cutting grooves with a hacksaw first. That will speed up the filing a lot.

You could cut 1 groove to nearly full depth for each tooth. Then,go back and cut another,shallower groove half way between the full depth grooves. That will help filing even more.

[Ron Petley]

If you do decide to make some, here is agood tutorial that I used:
http://norsewoodsmith.com/content/pair-planemakers-floats
Cheers Ron.