Bench Holddowns

[Bruce]

Yep, one of mine that I just bought lasted one easy blow of the mallet. What moron built these out of cast iron? You need spring properties for it to work.

[CW]

You get a lot of this kind of thing when you buy Chinese. They are big on the cast iron anvils too.

[CW]

May be they sold some steel ones at one time but the ones now are cast iron. Not even worth $2.00.

[Bruce]

Yep, I'm bending some out of cold rolled steel in our machine shop. Then I plan on heating one end and shaping the flat with a hammer and anvil, then heating the whole thing cherry red and tossing in a bucket of oil. It'll be good to go.

[CW]

[Bruce]

LOL! I'm not going into the blacksmith business :) These are for me only. Now my 18 year old boy may be interested.

[Jim Wilson]

Since cold rolled steel has a carbon content below 0.2 percent, "heating the whole thing cherry red and tossing in a bucket of oil" won't do anything good for the tool. Since doing so would definitely pose some hazards, you'd be better off to skip that bit.

I'll bet CRS is a fine material for the application, though.

Jim

[CW]

Sure will. It sounds like this guy knows something about old blacksmith's methods. The point of doing this is not to harden it, it is to impart a black oxide coating that resists rust.

[Jim Wilson]

Well it certainly will impart a black coating, but IME that particular coating does little to prevent rust. The oil alone does as much. I think the coating you are speaking of is nothing more than a conglomeration of scale and oil, and much of it is rather loosely adhered to the steel. Bang it with a hammer and the crust flakes off easily, although there are always some stubborn bits that remain behind. The same is true of forge and mill scale without the oil.

This coating is nothing like very durable black oxide finishes that are so often used on tooling. Unfortunately, the better ones require rather noxious chemicals and are ill-suited to application in the home shop. The "cold-bluing" methods, while not as durable as the hot methods, are better suited for the occasional user.

If the OP's intent is to put a protective finish on the tool, he'll get better results from one of these methods, or by cleaning it well and applying a coat or two of good quality paint.

Jim

[CW]

blacksmith's