I have collected a bunch of cast iron dumb bels on spec. I pick them up at the thrift store for a buck or less. I have used and tried to use some of them for various projects with mixed results. Some machine beautifully and others are as hard as granite. They must take them out of the mold hot and dump them in the sea. One I used recently made a beautiful face cut and not bad longitudinal cut but the angled cut was just about impossible with HSS.
One I was hoping to use was so hard that a file just slid over it. I put it in a raging fire in backyard. The fire burned 3 feet tall for several hours. I let it cool overnight in the ashes but it is still just as hard. So is there an inexpensive way with minimal cash outlay and no weird chemicals to anneal these things?
One I was hoping to use was so hard that a file just slid over it. I put it in a raging fire in backyard. The fire burned 3 feet tall for several hours. I let it cool overnight in the ashes but it is still just as hard. So is there an inexpensive way with minimal cash outlay and no weird chemicals to anneal these things?