Veritas style blades

[Doug B]

After reading Michelle K’s post about making blades I thought I’d post up some photos of some blades I made a while ago to use in my Veritas Jack & smoother planes.
The steel the blades are made from is gauge plate bought from Cromwell tools, the blue label if you can zoom in gives info on hardening, tempering & the steels composition.

First up the blanks were cut to rough size then squared up at the miller

The blades locating holes were then milled

Finally the finished shape cut.

The blades were then suspended in a biscuit tin surrounded with BBQ coals with a paint stripper gun blowing hot air into the lit coals, the blades were held at cherry red for 15 minutes.

next the fun bit the red hot blades were then quenched by lowering into tin cans containing used motor oil, as you can see it bursts into flame & the oil boils out hence the tins being in another biscuit tin & that being on a board

This process leaves the blade hardened & covered in a black residue which needs removing (far right blade) once removed the blades were tempered in the oven following the instructions on the gauge plate label depending on the hardness you want, these were held around 200 degree for 15 minutes then allowed to cool with the oven & removed from the oven when completely cold.
The middle blade is a finished blade the left hand one an original Veritas used as a pattern

Finally the moment of truth, the blades work very well & I’ve been very happy with their performance

I’d just add that these blades were made solely for my use, hope it’s of interest.

 

[Michelle_K]

Amazing! Thank you for sharing. I really like the simplicity of the biscuit tin. The blades I plan to make are for thumb planes so are tiny in comparison to yours. So that method should definitely work for me.
thanks again.

 

[Racers]

Mapp torch will work fine as well.

Pete

 

[Doug B]

Mapp torch will work fine as well.

Pete

Pete’s right Michelle a blow torch would be easier if you are making just a few tiny blades.
Rule of thumb is to hold the blade at cherry red for an hour per 1” thickness of steel so only 7-8 minutes for 3mm thick blades, I used the biscuit tin as I was doing three big blades which would have used a lot of gas.

 

[Inspector]

Michelle when the metal is no longer magnetic it is ready for quenching. So you have a magnet handy check as you heat. Cooking oil will work nicely and smell a lot better than motor oil. Do it in a place that should it catch fire noting will burn down. You can cover the container with a lid and smother the flames.

Pete

 

[Doug B]

Michelle when the metal is no longer magnetic it is ready for quenching. So you have a magnet handy check as you heat.

Yep forgot to say this you can see the magnet I used on the right in 6th photo

 

[gmercer_48083]

I would think your blade is quite brittle. I anneal my oil hardened blades in the oven at 400 degrees f for approximately 45 minutes to an hour... until the iron is a straw color (not a hay color). Remove from the oven and let it cool to room temperature without quenching. Doing this softens the steel slightly and makes it much easier to maintain an edge when sharpening, and prevents the iron from chipping.

 

[Doug B]

I would think your blade is quite brittle.

These blades are a few years old now & I haven’t found this to be the case

I anneal my oil hardened blades in the oven at 400 degrees f

Which is around the 200 degrees c I did these at.

 

[MikeG.]

......straw color (not a hay color)......

There's a difference? Funny, I've lived in the countryside my whole life........

 

[Droogs]

Straw is yellowish and made from wheat and hay is greenish in colour and made from grass, different plants. haven't you played Farming simulator yet Mike?

 

[MikeG.]

Harvested grass when left greenish is either silage or haylege, and isn't hay. In the old days, when hay was made into hay properly, when the sun shone, it was completely dried and became precisely the same colour as straw. I don't want to be too picky, but straw also comes from barley, oats, and from wildflower meadows amongst other sources, not just wheat.

Farming simulator? That's a thing is it? I mean, I live in a field.....it'd be quicker to just look over the hedge to see what goes on on a farm.

 

[Jake]

Hay is more tan than straw's yellow, few ticks down the orange scale.