Which hacksaw blades?

[Whittler]

Hey guys, I spent the last few weeks making my own picks from hacksaw blades. I have had some great success and have worked myself up to picking a 6 pin euro cylinder with 4 spool pins. I am however having an issue with picks snapping.

I have been using some cheap bacho hacksaw blades to create my picks. I wonder if there is a particular brand that is better for this kind of application. They seem to last a while then a sudden failure occurs even under light pressure. I should say when I'm making them I have water at hand and do regular dips to make sure they don't lose their strength.

And I've realised the wisdom in using a full face guard while making them lol. Definitely preferable to goggles. I also made some fingerless leather gloves as the back of my hands were being burned a little. This may be because I have a very cheap bench grinder.

All suggestions are welcome

[Whittler]

I should say I have so far tried bahco, dewalt and eclipse blades.

[Squelchtone]

Would you have a photo available of one of the snapped picks, both pieces if you still have them? There may have been a weak spot, thin spot, or a cut or angle susceptible to fatigue in the metal depending on what shape pick you made and how much grinding, thinning, and sanding took place.

Forum attachments are disabled, but you can upload a photo to your Photobucket, Flickr, DropBox, or my favorite to http://tinypic.com/ and Copy/Paste the link in your reply.

Thanks!
Squelchtone

[GWiens2001]

Why are the backs of your hands getting burnt?

Make sure you are cooling the blade often enough to keep the blade from being discolored, which is a sign of overheating, which removes the temper from the blades.

Gordon

[Whittler]

I think burnt was the wrong word. Small shards tend to come off and hit my hands, I have a very cheap bench grinder with no guards, which is why I use a full face guard.

Squelchtone, unfortunately I don't have a camera atm, but I am looking to buy both avideo camera and still camera to take pictures of what I am doing. I'll try and upload them when I get them, it may be a few weeks as I don't have a lot of money and have to budget for this and that. I intend to post a full snapshot of the picks I've made once I can do so. I am mainly concentrating on hook picks as they seem to be performing well for me.

Will keep you updated

[Whittler]

I also don't want to post rubbish picks, I want some good attempts I've been inspired by some users here and I'm hoping to develop my own wood handles. Ash is a fantastic wood so maybe I can get that sorted.

[Whittler]

I've ordered a better grinder with guards and it's easier to find different wheels for it. I've ordered a very coarse wheel to shape the picks and a sisal wheel to polish them. I've also ordered a jewelers set of files so hopefully soon I'll be able to produce some great picks I have also ordered a few grinding compunds. I imagine it wil take a bit of practice though. I intend to practice a lot before I post a set of picks.

[l0ckcr4ck3r]

You may want to try a different material all together and this is why... Ill try and avoid using Engineering and Scientific terms, im not an expert but understand it well enough to give some advice.

Hardness: This is how resistant to abrasion a blade is, in simple terms how low it will last and keep its edge.
Toughness: This is how brittle the blade is, how soon it will break due to fatigue, impact or just the force needed to snap it.

The steel alloys used in blades tend to follow a basic pattern, the Greater the Hardness, then the Lower the Toughness. After all, you want a hacksaw to be very hard and it is always held in tension so we allow this trade off. The odd thing is, the higher the quality of the hacksaw blade, the more brittle it will be when fashioned into a pick!! Your raw material cannot have its chemical composition changed, its whatever alloy it is! Its physical properties can be changed though tempering as the others have mentioned. If you have a High temperature oven/furnace then you could probably get close to the mechanical properties you are looking for, using a hacksaw blade as a starting material. However, why not start with a more suitable material or alloy to begin with which already has a good temper? You just need to remember to grind for a couple of seconds only and quench often to prevent heat build up and in turn changing the temper. Better still, use a rotary tool like dremel, it will take longer but you'll find it a lot easier to control the heat build up in the pick. I know several people have had great success with cheap kitchen knives... a cheap rip saw for lumber would probably be good as well.

Just my 2 cent...

[cowboypicker]

Coming from a black smithing background, I can say be careful about how hot you get them when grinding. Try not to let the stock become too hot to handle. Also used blades can become workhardened very easily, this can also happen during the grinding down of stock. One last tip, being from a black smithing background, I prefer the cheapest blades you can rinse due to the content being straight carbon steel with no weakness from where the bi-metal was joined, not to mention, carbon steels are just easier to work with than exotic alloys.

Matt

[cowboypicker]

Typo in above post. I meant to say "cheapes blades you can find are the best"

[Whittler]

Thanks guys. I have been looking up alloys and it seems most hacksaw blades are high carbon steel. They are great for picks I can produce easily, at minimal cost. I always dunk them often when grinding. Literally every few seconds I dunk them. They do last a while and then fail all of a sudden. I will look into finding a good steel locally, maybe I can get some off cuts from somehere. I would be intersted in knowing which grades are considered good.

[Whittler]

I should say I just purchased 50 hacksaw blades for cheap, each blade makes 2 picks so that will give me some good practice, I love the hook pick design. I've used a standard hook with a long straight back and a hook with a curved back, both are great for different ciscumstances.

I just set up a euro cylinder with 5 spool pins, it's provving very difficult for me. I wish I had some mushroom and serrated pins to mess with.

[l0ckcr4ck3r]

Let us know how they work out!! I have not made any picks myself yet so i cant tell you for sure what the best material is, there are many other projects im working on at the moment I have done some research though and have selected what ill be trying first.

http://www.reidsupply.com/sku/PBK-25SS/

Do some searches on here and the rest of the web, many others have been where you are now and have good advice to offer from their experiences

[l0ckcr4ck3r]

..forgot to mention it but you are going about it the right way... Use the 50pack of blades to perfect the shape of the picks you are making and keep templates of the ALL the picks you make. That way, when you have the skills at making them and the right designs, you can invest in some more expensive material!! Good luck and keep us posted on your progress

[Whittler]

Well my horrible cheap bench grinder blew up today, the motor was just awful, so waiting for my better one to come. Sadly havign to order a better grinder means I can't afford the camera I want so may be a little while before I can post some pics up, but I will do it. Anyway it'll give me time to practice I suppsoe Man the smell of a burning motor is awful!