Heat treating in wood stove

[spandit]

Cut a piece off a leaf spring to make a mini froe for splitting kindling. Chucked it in the woodburner which burnt the rubber out of the end but has made the whole thing glow cherry red - saves the hassle and expense of firing up a forge! Will let it cool overnight then hammer flat in the morning and grind an edge on. Might also add a little welding to the eye. The plan is to then heat it up again and then quench. I'll then temper it in the oven before fitting a handle

 

[crosslandkelly]

I look forward to seeing the finished article.

 

[spandit]

Blade more-or-less finished. Will attempt to handle tomorrow

 

[spandit]

It's taken a while to get round to but have finally handled my mini-froe:

Used some eucalyptus from the log pile which was bone dry. I haven't fully sanded the haft yet as want to make sure it's not going to snap.

Left the bushing ring in the blade but welded it a bit to stop it coming out (which it did when I first hammered the handle in). It's only for splitting pallet boards so not going to be too heavily used. A brief play today was encouraging

 

[bigroomboy]

Very nice, I had ideas of making something similar from a large old file I have.