Heat Treat Spring Steel. How to Soften the metal to work on it. How to Harden to revive the spring.

[@foleycomposer]

At 12:53, you say you need to anneal the metal, but you're tempering it. Annealing was the first heating step you did to make it easier to bend--heating it to dull red and letting it air cool. All that said, this is brilliant, and just what I needed to help me with a project of my own. Thanks so much!

[@CYC123]

Hello David. You are absolutely correct, I used the wrong word and thank you for pointing it out. For people reading this who do not know the difference between ANNEALING & TEMPERING: Annealing is used to soften and make materials more workable, reducing hardness significantly. That is what I did at the beginning of the video so I could bend the spring steel. Tempering is used to improve the toughness and ductility of hardened materials. That's what I needed to do with the spring after it was shaped and hardened again. Take Care Jim

[@LockBits-ts6eo]

Quite right Buddy.

[@CYC123]

Hello LockBits. Glad you agree. Thank you. Take Care Jim

[@jmbstudio6873]

I follow the tech sheets. Simple.

[@CYC123]

Hello. Glad you enjoyed the video. Thank you for your comment. Take Care Jim

[@SL-ez7qn]

Very informative. Thanks for the tutorial. You have earned yourself a subscriber 😂

[@CYC123]

Hello @SL-ez7qn. A new subscriber, thank you very much. I am so glad you enjoyed the video. Take Care Jim

[@ChristThewayTTTL]

Thanks sir very useful👍🕊️

[@CYC123]

Hello. I'm so glad this video was useful to you. Take Care Jim.

[@Desloangmx]

Great information Jim, I'm sure I will put it to good use someday when I have a spring break that can't be bought off the shelf.

[@CYC123]

Hello Dennis. As always, thank you for the comment. I must admit I don't make springs very often, but its a handy thing to know how to do, and you don't have to worry about different temperatures if you go by the glow of the metal and the oxidation colours. Take Care Jim

[@morpheusduvall]

I need to reproduce some spring clips for a grinder shield, this helps me immensely

[@CYC123]

Hello Mike. I'm so glad you found my video useful. Thank you for the comment and good luck with the spring clips you need for your grinder shield. Let me know how it goes. Take Care Jim

[@mikenco]

Perfect! I have to make a spring to hold up the rear stand on my 1929 Matchless. Hardest part about this is finding the donor piece of steel!

[@CYC123]

Hello Mike. If you need spring steel it is available on Amazon, search for "Spring Steel Stock". A 1929 Matchless, I assume single cylinder with girder forks. My oldest bike is a 1948 MAC 350cc Velocette. Take Care Jim

[@jairzuniga4948]

Ive used black allen keys to make springs for a o/u trap shotgun and lasted about 3 years, all li did was heat it, hammer it to make it flat, after that i removed all dents with an angke grinder with a flap disc and then file it from end to end to prevent any line that will lead to a crack, i was impressed and started making alot of them to try them and compare them with the ones working on my guns and they do work, probably wont last as much as the ones made with spring steel, but for sure they last 3 years at least, great video

[@clydegray9714]

​@jairzuniga4948 Allen wrench hu! I'll put it to the test. You would be surprised the many use of a rake tine if pronounced correctly? Old rakes have the real sprng steel. Also leaf springs make excellent machetes.. off old trucks of course. Forging is nessasary. Mattress springs, I collected well over a hundred from one old again. Excellent wire for the imagination imagination.. toodles

[@RichardParks-v3g]

great video

[@CYC123]

Hello Richard. Thank you for your comment. I'm glad you enjoyed the video. Take Care Jim

[@tjj1171]

great video. I want to make a custom spring that needs to be filed and cut. Im hoping that the describes process of softening will help me achieve that easier

[@CYC123]

Hello TJJ. Thank you for your comment. If you are going to shape a piece of spring steel by cutting and filing, make the cuts smooth, and radius the internal corners. If you leave the internal corners at a sharp angle this may propagate a fatigue crack and the premature failure of your spring. Let me know how you get on. Take Care Jim

[@Coolarj10]

Great video!

[@CYC123]

Hello Arjun. Thank you for your comment. I am so glad you enjoyed the video. Take Care Jim

[@CHenry1951]

Thanks for sharing.................... excellent !!

[@CYC123]

Hello Henry. Thank you for your comment. Henry was the name of my father, brings back lots of memories just typing it. I'm glad you enjoyed the video. Take Care Jim

[@PaulFalder-g7b]

I have to make a virtually identical spring (but smaller) so very useful tutorial. I have tried this before, but got the temper wrong and it snapped - better luck next time!

[@CYC123]

Hello Paul. Thank you for your kind words. I am glad you found the video of use. I wish you luck in your spring making. Let me know how you get on. Take Care Jim

[@davidtymon8258]

great video, thank you :) Towards the end you mentioned not having the 'correct' oil for quenching so you used some motorbike oil instead... can you advise what else can be used for quenching? I've got rapeseed oil, olive oil or tap water to hand. Would any of those do?

[@CYC123]

Hello David Thank you for your question. In short, yes, you can use rapeseed oil, Olive oil and water, all have been used for hundreds of years by blacksmiths. As to which is best. This is a huge subject, which depends on the material you want to heat treat, and what quality you want to impart into that material. I am no expert when it comes to heat treatment, I tend to give something a go and see what I end up with using a piece of scrap. You can get an indication of hardness with a file, but use the end of the file, the part you don’t generally use, it doesn’t matter if you blunt it by filing something hard. Bending your test piece in a vice will give you an indication of its ductility. There is a huge amount of information online, I suggest you have a search, you will be able to find what you are looking for. I hope this helps. Take Care Jim

[@nickaxe771]

Very interesting.....so I take it and mild steel can be used to make a spring.....or is spring steel a special blend.

[@CYC123]

Hello Nick Thank you for your comment and question. As you probably know all steels are made from iron. As the iron is processed different materials are added depending on what particular characteristics you want the final steel to have. For instance, if you want stainless steel then the iron will be mixed with chromium molybdenum, carbon, nickel and nitrogen. Spring steels are typically made up of medium-to-high carbon steel, they also contain manganese and silicon. Can you process normal steel to make it into a good spring? I would say it is possible, but it’s going to be difficult in a home workshop. Search on Google there is a huge amount of information out there. If I need to make a springy something, I would start with spring steel. Hope this helps. Take Care Jim

[@L2M2K2]

Nope. The mild steel will not harden with any heat treatment, or any other tricks. You need to have a *suitable* spring steel alloy. That is, the same also applies to some spring steel alloys. For example, the 301 stainless spring steel makes very decent springs but only in its factory spring temper *rolled* flat condition. If you ever anneal it to reshape it, you cannot restore its temper with a heat treatment. Unlike the classic high-carbon spring steel, or some other stainless spring steels, or some other exotic steels, 301 can only be tempered via cold working with the rollers.

[@dnyaneshwarlohar5850]

Which metal did you used?

[@CYC123]

Hello @dnyaneshwarlohar5850. The metal I used for the custom spring came from an old spring bed mattress. This metal was used to keep the springs within the mattress in their correct shape. It was an old mattress with no foam, just metal springs and a soft cover on each side. Thank you for your comment. Take Care Jim

[@CYC123]

Hello again @dnyaneshwarlohar5850. Just read my reply again, I didn't answer your question. All the metal within the mattress was spring steel. So I started with spring steel, made it soft, crafted it to the correct shape then brought back the spring again.

[@BryantWalker-m6e]

Your not a blacksmith, I can tell.