homebrew question

[unjust]

so i'm moving some things around the loading dock yesterday and i realize that steel strapping is remarkably close to the thickness/size required for picks.

anyone used it? i'm not certain of what sort of steel it is, but it's got to be a bit softer as it's under tension and the harder steels don't like tension so much.

[Anero]

i use this alot. I work at a place where they build RVs in helpdesk, everyonce in a while i'll go outside and there is tons of that strap stuff laying around, works fairly well, better then hacksaw blades imo

[unbreakable]

Yeah, I generally score some of this stuff whenever I go to a hardware store to pick up wood/whatever,

I'm working on a serrated tension wrench out of the thicker and wider pieces, and some auto wrenches.

I dunno what steel it is, it would be nice to know though, it seems like ok stuff besides the rusting part.

[Anero]

yeah it does rust a bit if you don't watch it, but just hit it with sand paper again, can't complain too much with you are getting tons of this stuff for free. i normally use it to test on before i make the pick out of wiper blades or better steel

[unbreakable]

Yeah, it seems too soft for picks, butter suited for tension tools and making practice picks IMO.

[Romstar]

I have a lot of that stuff laying around, and I don't use it very often. As stated, it is often too soft for picks. Maybe for testing a design, because it is easy to grind and shape, but after that it will just fold up or rip on you at those sizes.

Romstar

[Stray]

Brickstrap (is that the actual term for it?) Well i've made 2 things from it and would have to say they work very well.

A tension wrench that i made out of necessity once and with a bit of fine tuning it became my preferred tension wrench.

And my padlock shim that I keep in my wallet for my work lock when ever i actually lock my locker. (Takes less time than using the combo lol... funny thing is I don't even remember my combo anymore.)

Believe me to get it ground down to fit is a pain, then to bend it to fit around the shackle is even harder, but it works great and is near indestructable.

[pickmonger]

Any idea how that steel strapping would react to tempering.

Heating and cooling it properly might make it a bit more durable.

[Romstar]

Tempering "brick strap" can be a tricky situation. It is almost always a two stage process, and the second part is more difficult than the first.

Its best to use some small samples at first so that you don't use too much or not enough heat.

Generally, the first stage requires that you heat the metal to a bright red. Not a dull red, and not a "cherry" red. Since most people will be using a torch, be sure to move the material around so the heat is evenly distributed.

As soon as you take the metal away from the flame, it will begin to cool. You are going to be at about a dull red when you get it into the quench. In this case, a good brine solution is excellent since it is carbon steel. Oil is a bit too slow.

Dip the metal into the brine edge first to prevent warping, and move the metal slowly around. The larger the piece, the larger the container you will need.

After this stage is complete, you are going to need to clean the surface of the steel. It should have developed some "scale" during the hardening. This scale simply needs to be removed with an 80 or 120 grit sand paper. You aren't looking for polish here, just clean steel.

The scale is the result of carbon and oxygen reacting at the surface of the steel during the heating process.

Once you have cleaned the steel of all the scale, you will need to heat it again.

For this heat, you will want to start at the largest part of the material, and work your way outward.

When you were practicing, you should have noticed the colour change that occured as you heated. If you didn't, go back with another scrap piece and heat it watching for the colour change.

During this heat, you are looking for a straw yellow to light bluish colour moving along the steel. Its important that you keep watching, because if you over heat it, it won't temper, it will harden again.

Carefully watch the steel colour, and move the piece in the flame so that you can get as close to even heating as posible.

The next part is important.

If you have NOT over heated the steel, and the colour never got past a bluish tinge, you can leave the steel to cool on any metal surface for an hour. If it did get a BIT too hot, you can quench in lard. Some of you will remember the seemingly ridiculous post on lard, now you know what it was about.

Another option for the second step is to place your picks or parts into an oven at 450 C for a few hours, and then turn off the oven. Don't open the oven, don't take the parts out, just let them cool for another few hours.

This option is best done after supper and before you go to bed. That way you can heat them before bed, and let them cool over night.

There are some older threads on this topic on the forums, and some other information and material was posted there as well. If you are interested in this, you would be well served to use the search function, and look up tempering or hardening.

Good luck, and never be afraid to experiment.

Romstar