Tempering Round Dies
:
HARDENING CARBON STEEL FOR TOOLS
:
The Working Of Steel
A number of circular dies of carbon tool steel for use in tool
holders of turret lathes were required. No proper tempering oven
was available, so the following method was adopted and proved quite
successful.
After the dies had been hardened dead hard in water, they were
cleaned up bright. A pair of ordinary smiths' tongs was made with
jaws of heavy material and to fit nicely all around the outside of
the die, leaving a 3/32-in. space when the jaws were closed around
the die. The dies being all ready, the tongs were heated red hot, and
the dies were picked up and held by the tongs. This tempered them
from the outside in, left the teeth the temper required and the
outside slightly softer. The dies held up the work successfully
and were better than when tempered in the same bath.