I was happily mortising away last night with my trusty mortiser when the bit started smoking. I really should have stopped to see what was going on but only had two more do and it was late so I blithely continued. The chisel/bit combo seemed to be adjusted properly but I managed to blue it up pretty good. The chisel is a cheap one that came with the machine ( General ). It seemed to blue very quickly. Does the quality of the chisel have anything to do with how much heat ( i.e. abuse ) the chisel will take? Also does anyone have any good ideas on how to do backyard retempering? The hottest thing that I have is a basic plumbing propane torch. I DAGS on this subject but couldn't find anything that would suggest a plan. TIA.
- posted
19 years ago