Subject: Re: Tool Steel

From: [email-masked]
Date: Mon, 8 Jul 1996 19:04:23 -0400

To All,
The stock from which files are made are not brittle unless hardened. If it
files easily, it is not hard. Heating the material to a red heat and
quenching it in water (brine ) will harden it. A file should just glide off
of it without biting into the material. Normalizing a carbon steel in still
air is ok, but any alloy steel should be packed in perlite, lime or dry ashes
to really slow down the cooling process. Normalizing something three times is
no better than once if it is not done well.

Hochewa