homemade O-1 plane iron

[Charles Cannon]

I made my first wooden plane this week from a plan in a recent Fine Woodworking mag. I made the iron out of 2" x 1/4" O-1 steel from Enco. I was able to cut and sharpen the iron without blueing it. Do I still need to heat treat it? It seems to cut alright as is.
Cannon

[David DeCristoforo]

You need to harden and temper the steel after you have made the blade. There are a lot of resources on how exactly to do this but here is a basic chart of temps and times:

http://www.evenheat-kiln.com/technical/heattreat/heattreat.htm

[Steve knight]

yes you need to heat treat it. but with 1/4" thick you can't do it with a torch. you need some type of kiln or forge.

[Johnny Kleso]

I have a Heat Treating page at my website
www.rexmill.com (http://www.rexmill.com)

https://home.comcast.net/~rexmill/heat_treating/images/6_small.jpg

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

I made my first wooden plane this week from a plan in a recent Fine Woodworking mag. I made the iron out of 2" x 1/4" O-1 steel from Enco. I was able to cut and sharpen the iron without blueing it. Do I still need to heat treat it? It seems to cut alright as is.
Cannon


Yipper the stresses in the metal after hardening can shatter the metal. I've seen a die break in half just sitting on the bench overnight 'cause it wasn't tempered.

There are two ways (these for O1 & not any other steel):
1.) you household oven set it to 350 Deg F for a = hardness of about 56 on the RC scale .

2.) propane torch: polich the metal nice and bright and use the torch playing it over the metal till the color from the heat is just a light straw. Then fast - dunk it in water.

#1 is the best of you can control the Temp in your oven accurately.
Leave it in the tempering oven a for a few hours. If you want it harder use a lower temp. I'm sure you can google various oven settings for various hardnesses

[Ron Petley]

Look up a pottery supply store and buy a soft fire brick from them, this is a kiln lineining brick, about $5. Carve/cut a hole in it, it is so soft you can almost do this with a spoon, big enough to get your blad into it. cut/drill another hole into the brick to fit the tip of a propane torch in the brick. A Burnsomatic tip works the best. Put the bade in and heat it hot enough a magnet will not stick to the blade. Be careful the cutting edge will get hotter than the body of the blade as it is thinner, so some judgement is needed. Once non magnetic, dip it in some warm oil as fast as you can, use long nosed pliers or something like that. You might have to check with the magnetic and re heat to temp before dipping in the oil. You can use most any oil if you use car oil avoide the fumes, vegie oil is ok as well. Use eough oil to emerce the blade and not have the oil heat to much.
One cool scrub off the crud with some steel wool or pot scrubber. Place the blade in a can of sand for even heating and place it in the kitchen oven(when your wife is out) at 375-400 F for 2 hours. Cook it in the oven within 2 hours of quenching in the oil. Cool and look for a straw color on the metal, blue or purple means the oven was to hot, if so reheat in the brick.... and cook it in the oven at a lower temp, home oven are ot that acurate with the temps.
This is about the best you can d for a home job, give it a try it is not that hard and will be something you can also us for making marking knives ect... and you will have the satisfaction of doing it yourself.
Cheers Ron.

[Charles Cannon]

At this point is the O-1 steel to soft to hold an edge or to hard making it likely to chip or break?
Cannon

[Steve knight]

[/quote]
2.) propane torch: polich the metal nice and bright and use the torch playing it over the metal till the color from the heat is just a light straw. Then fast - dunk it in water.
[/quote]

when tempering you don't cool the metal but by letting it sit and cool slowly.

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

when tempering you don't cool the metal but by letting it sit and cool slowly.

The expert will stop applying the heat in time to do this. The first timer ~ ~ maybe not.
However, you are correct.

[Ron Petley]

The steel is in a softened state so you can work it with files and drill it ect.... It will not chip much but will not hold a edge for long, once quenched and tempered it will be so hard a file will not really cut it. This is a way to test if it is hardened, a file will just skate over the steel an not cut into it. The quench hardens the steel and the tempering softens it enough that it will not chip or break as the quenched steel is very hard but also brittle.
Do not quench it in water it does not work as well as oil. O1 steel is made to be quenched in oil, W1 is made for water quench, but I would still use oil less chance of the edge cracking. The water forms a jacket of steam around the metal and slows the cooling.
Cheers Ron.

[Charles Cannon]

"The steel is in a softened state so you can work it with files and drill it ect.... "

I see. Just as a test, this morning I sharpened the iron and planed on a piece of poplar until my arms got tired. When I removed the iron from the plane the edge was visibly deformed. Thanks, I know a lot more than I did.
Cannon