Tom LaRussa
10-29-2004, 8:21 AM
In case anybody's wondering...
I hardened my first plane blade about a week ago.
I ground the blade from 1/4" thick Starrett O-1 steel purchased from Enco. http://www.use-enco.com (http://www.use-enco.com/) (They have really good prices on this stuff.)
I heated the blade in my BBQ until a magnet would no longer stick to it, then quenched it in a mixture of salad and olive oils. (For you fellow foodies out there -- don't worry, it was low-grade "lite" olive oil that somebody left at my house. Not really fit for human consumption.)
When it was cool I washed it, and tempered by putting it into a cold oven which I then set to 325 degrees (F). I left it in there for an hour before turning off the heat and letting it cool down for several hours before opening the oven door.
Note: The 325 temp was suggested by Ron Hock -- http://www.hocktools.com/diyht.htm -- and the hour was just a guess.
Okay, so that's how I made the blade.
Lately I've been playing around with plane designs, and I decided that I needed to drill a hole in this home-made plane blade. So I chucked a 5/16" (supposedly) HSS in my drill press and went at it.
When that didn't work I tried another drill bit.
Then another.
Final score:
Three nicely rounded, very blue, drill bits.:o
One very small dimple in the plane blade. :p
Pic below. Note: The blade in the pic measures just under 2" across.
I hardened my first plane blade about a week ago.
I ground the blade from 1/4" thick Starrett O-1 steel purchased from Enco. http://www.use-enco.com (http://www.use-enco.com/) (They have really good prices on this stuff.)
I heated the blade in my BBQ until a magnet would no longer stick to it, then quenched it in a mixture of salad and olive oils. (For you fellow foodies out there -- don't worry, it was low-grade "lite" olive oil that somebody left at my house. Not really fit for human consumption.)
When it was cool I washed it, and tempered by putting it into a cold oven which I then set to 325 degrees (F). I left it in there for an hour before turning off the heat and letting it cool down for several hours before opening the oven door.
Note: The 325 temp was suggested by Ron Hock -- http://www.hocktools.com/diyht.htm -- and the hour was just a guess.
Okay, so that's how I made the blade.
Lately I've been playing around with plane designs, and I decided that I needed to drill a hole in this home-made plane blade. So I chucked a 5/16" (supposedly) HSS in my drill press and went at it.
When that didn't work I tried another drill bit.
Then another.
Final score:
Three nicely rounded, very blue, drill bits.:o
One very small dimple in the plane blade. :p
Pic below. Note: The blade in the pic measures just under 2" across.