<html><head><style type="text/css"><!-- DIV {margin:0px;} --></style></head><body><div style="font-family:verdana,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12pt"><div>In my spare time (when I am working - to support my carving) I am an engineer, my degree is in Mechanical Engineering and one of the subjects I studied (years ago) was metallurgy. <br><br>To soften metal, heat it up until it glows and let it cool off slowly. This is called annealing. To harden metal, heat it up and cool it quickly by "quenching it in an oil or water bath. This is called tempering. Be careful as quenching in water may cool it too quickly and cause it to get to hard making it brittle.<br><br>Hope this helps<br><br>Dick Faulkner<br></div><div style="font-family: verdana,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br><div style="font-family: times new roman,new york,times,serif; font-size: 12pt;"><font size="2" face="Tahoma"><hr size="1"><b><span
style="font-weight: bold;">From:</span></b> Jan Oegema <jancarves3@rogers.com><br><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">To:</span></b> [Woodcarver] <woodcarver@carverscompanion.com><br><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Sent:</span></b> Friday, March 13, 2009 9:18:45 AM<br><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Subject:</span></b> Re: [Woodcarver] Knife making question<br></font><br>
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<div><font size="2" face="Arial">Joe D wrotes </font></div>
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<div><font size="3">I think what you're doing is great. The high-speed steel in
the drill bit should hold an edge providing the temper wasn't removed during
processing. If it was removed by over heating and if the carbon wasn't burned
off you can re-harden them and draw them back to 62 Rockwell (which is about
where they began</font></div>
<div>+++++++++++++++++++++++<br>What repicy do YOU have to harden (or unharden)
steel Joe ??</div>
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Woodbutcher Jan<br> </font></div>
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take a look at my picture trail albums
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