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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Dec 2020
    Location
    Fraser Coast Au.
    Posts
    5

    Default Hardened Bastard

    Sooooo...... I was stick welding some nonsense parts the other day and went to grab my file, just to knock of the flux from the end of the rod before starting the arc, well bugger me I could not find the file. Well I made do with some concrete flooring and didn't think much about it again until I was packing up and found the file beneath the job, threw 'er in the file suppository and again did not think much of it until today. Grabbed a file out of the drawer to knock off a couple of burrs and the bloody thing skated across the the job and halfway across my shed!

    I do believe I may have induction hardened the file or possibly heat treated it.... either way there is no way that poor "bastard' is gonna be removing anymore material. Maybe it is a candidate for that knife I keep promising myself to make

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Aug 2011
    Location
    Melbourne
    Posts
    4,779

    Default

    Hi there,

    So your theory is that because the file was under the workpiece that you were welding, it was subject to sufficient heat for the file to loose its hardness and return to the annealed state?

    Interesting one for sure. Have you tried that file on something else, other than your workpiece? Have you tried a different file on the same workpiece?

    Perhaps your workpiece is harder than you think?

    Keen to see what other suggest.

    Thanks for sharing.

    Simon

    Sent from my SM-G970F using Tapatalk
    Girl, I don't wanna know about your mild-mannered alter ego or anything like that." I mean, you tell me you're, uh, super-mega-ultra-lightning babe? That's all right with me. I'm good. I'm good.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jan 2004
    Location
    Mackay North Qld
    Posts
    6,446

    Default

    hi,
    To harden something you need a heating and a then a quench.

    I doubt that your file has hardened by heating alone.

    Have you tried it on a known piece of low carbon steel=ie: mild steel?

    Did you try another file on the sample that the original file skated off?


    Grahame

  4. #4
    BobL is offline Member: Blue and white apron brigade
    Join Date
    Feb 2006
    Location
    Perth
    Posts
    7,183

    Default

    Interesting - files are already very hard - and I seriously doubt they could be made harder than they already are by what you describe which as Grahame indicates does not include a quench step.

    If anything you might have annealed/softened the files (long slow heat and then air cool) but I also doubt that. I've annealed a few (dozen) files and they have to be held at cherry red for at least 10 minutes and then let slow cool.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Dec 2020
    Location
    Fraser Coast Au.
    Posts
    5

    Default

    Oh yes I have tried it on various steels and against other files and it is like running ice, slippery as. I will say I am completely baffled by the mysterious bastard, I'm not exactly sure what induction hardening is (along with a whole list of thing I know bugger all about) but I assume it is heating by passing a current through the metal

    I would call it quenched though, "air quench" is quite valid for a number of wayward, nefarious steel types of low morals and the file was quite cool when I discovered it's hiding place.

    Anyhow I thought it was something interesting.

  6. #6
    BobL is offline Member: Blue and white apron brigade
    Join Date
    Feb 2006
    Location
    Perth
    Posts
    7,183

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Doctor Bungle View Post
    Oh yes I have tried it on various steels and against other files and it is like running ice, slippery as. I will say I am completely baffled by the mysterious bastard, I'm not exactly sure what induction hardening is (along with a whole list of thing I know bugger all about) but I assume it is heating by passing a current through the metal
    Nope - Induction hardening is produced by placing the steel very close to a rapidly alternating magnetic field which sets up eddy currents inside the steel and makes it hot. Again nothing like what you described.

    I would call it quenched though, "air quench" is quite valid for a number of wayward, nefarious steel types of low morals and the file was quite cool when I discovered it's hiding place.
    Air quench is not like what you described. It involves movement of a LARGE amount of air rapidly past the steel. It is not possible to air quench using still air.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Feb 2021
    Location
    Australia Brisbane Qld
    Posts
    51

    Default

    This topic reminds me that there’s so much to learn about steel, metallurgy , composition....a pice of timber really only varies mostly in its moisture content but with steel there’s just so much goin on in there beneath the surface , and all the things u can do to alter it for your intended purpose , hope fully in the right direction if we can be bold enough to assume that we may actually know what we are doing

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Sep 2012
    Location
    York, North Yorkshire UK
    Posts
    6,444

    Default

    Hi Guys,

    Its quite possible that if the file has been trapped under the work and damaged when the slag has been hammered off it has flattened the teeth, in which case its not going to be very effective as a file !

    Doctor Bungle its time to make a knife.
    Best Regards:
    Baron J.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Sep 2008
    Location
    Riddells Creek, Vic.
    Posts
    831

    Default

    Most files are made from high carbon steel which if heated above it's tempering temperature and air cooled, can only get softer not harder. You may simply have a blunt file especially if it has been skating around on the concrete floor.

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