new Material?

[A.Spencer2]

while looking around the other day, I stumbled upon the metal piece from a hanging folder. It is to big for a wrench, but you might be able to cut it in half and it will work.
I don't know if it can be used as a pick,but you can try. the metal is 12-12 1/2 inches long and is about 5/16 or 5/8 across(not the best ruler in the world)

So you maybe able to use this idk.

[cha0s]

looks like it would work... How thick is it?

[A.Spencer2]

I would say, about the same thinkness as a hacksaw blade, maybe less.

[Santos718]

It might work, but they bend pretty easy. But you might be onto something. I think they would be great for tension wrenches, with a little grinding of course. Nice find, I'll try it out in a couple of days.

[A.Spencer2]

Yea, they bend, but if you shorten it, it would work good of a wrench,since you are not applying a lot of reassure.

I made 2 wrenches, but they are to big,but a normal wrench would probably work a lot better that a twisted one.

[cracksman]

The metal these are made from, at least the ones I've come across, is much to soft to make a pick out of, I doubt you could make a durable wrench either It does show good thinking though And I'd be happy to be proven wrong because I have file cabinets full of them

[pretender]

i suspect they could be heat treated for strength, though how well that would ultimately work is debatable.

[cha0s]

i find when i heat treat low quality metals they just get worse and almost brittle to the touch

[pretender]

yeah, i doubt it would be any good for picks - was thinking along the lines of low-stress tension wrenches.

[Sanith]

i find when i heat treat low quality metals they just get worse and almost brittle to the touch

Did you anneal the metal before trying to treat it. It may have been previously heat treated and if you didn't anneal it could become weak.

[Kodiak]

I doubt you will meet with any success in trying to heat treat this metal. Since the metal is from a folder, it is not designed to function under any high stress application. This means that the steel has too low of a carbon content to allow tempering. This leaves you with the option of trying to case harden the material but I think you would be better off purchasing some high carbon shim steel (it's relatively cheap) or at least just using a hacksaw blade.