Tip re: Obtaining Street Sweeper Bristles

[pinsetter]

a note on heat treating stainless steel:

if you are unable to heat/cool it at the proper temperatures and at the right rate of heating/cooling, you'll end up with a piece of steel so soft that you can literally tie knots in it.

I tried to temper a pick I had made from a stainless knife blade. I heated it cherry red with a torch, then dipped it into ice water like you temper normal steel and was shocked at the result. I quite literally was able to take the shaft of the pick and tie it in a knot. Without the proper tools it is nearly impossible to temper it right.

[krept]

indeed

i work with knives and avoid stainless steel because it's next to impossible to properly heat treat without a precise oven and timer. The heat treatment for stainless steels is very, very difficult including the soak time at critical as well as the tempering cycles. It involves a lot of ramping up/down temperatures for a certain amount of time. Many people that use stainless for knives outsource the heat treatment.

Carbon steel or spring steel is a lot easier... I'm fairly sure that the steel used in bristles is spring steel as it does corrode relatively easily.

cheers

[raimundo]

If you make bogota picks from bristle, be sure to have enough room between the two pliers to accomodate the twist, a quarter inch and a bit more if you are bending two pieces together so that they will nest together after they're bent. listen very carefully to the metal as you do the bend and twist, if there is a small fracture, a tiny snap sound will be the first clue, if you hear it, look closely at the metal and drag a finger nail on it to pick up any tiny cracks, if a tiny crack has started, throw it away, don't waste any work on something that will soon fail. Once youve seen the little fractures, you will inspect every piece that you make for them.

[raimundo]

I recieved a large bunch of bristles from krept, and these are very good. they came from a brush used in arizona, so obviously no rust. just cleaned them up and they are great. I usually look hard for steel this good, but this whole brush was all good. So if hes still offering, you guys who are looking for bristle might want to send him some money for postage and metal. Just clean the dust off them with a scotchbrite pad, and cut away the tips and the bend one end would be curbstruck, rock scarred, and the bend area could be workhardened. this leaves a 6 to 8 inch center of very good bristle. Thanks Krept.

[krept]

hey, that's good news that the steel works out for picks. As far as thanks... you are of course very welcome. As I said before, thank YOU for sharing your knowledge and technique regarding transforming these simple strips of steel into very functional works of art.

I'm going to be sending a package to Varjeal very soon so he can get some out to the people here who want some bristles. I'm not exactly sure how he will unload them (selling through his website, selling them in this forum, etc.) but that's my way of giving back to this forum until I can get enough experience with opening locks

cheers