From: muratlanne@gmail.com   
      
   "Snag"  wrote in message news:vv1bs3$5pbg$1@dont-email.me...   
      
      A soaking heat for several hours followed by a sloooowwww cooling has   
   worked for me in the past . Small parts can be buried in sand or ashes,   
   bigger stuff stays in the stove .   
      I did the overnight in the wood stove with a piece of Old Chevy   
   Spring to make a froe . One of these days I'll carry the metal parts and   
   a chunk of hickory (harvested right here in The Holler by a neighbor)   
   down to another neighbor - the one that has a wood lathe . I could do it   
   on my machine lathe but the mess ...   
   --   
   Snag   
   ------------------------------------   
      
   The traditional way to make wood round if too big for a lathe, like ship   
   masts, is to first saw it square to intended taper and diameter, then plane   
   (or chop) it octagonal, by eye according to the widths of the flats, then   
   plane down corners until close enough for the purpose. I think a froe handle   
   should look home-made, not smoothly round.   
      
   I tried making a froe from a car leaf spring split lengthwise with a torch.   
   I had wobbled a little at one end and left a notch, which I filled in with   
   acetylene, then decided not to risk forming the ferrule in hard + soft steel   
   and gave it a machete handle, which works for kindling, not so well for   
   prying off shakes.   
      
   The smith advised me to temper the presumably 5160 or equivalent steel   
   twice, an hour apiece, at 325-350F. He suggested a toaster oven, I used a   
   salvaged 2" x 18" industrial tube furnace lined with 2" exhaust pipe. The   
   metal shows a faint yellow tinge.   
      
   An oak branch used as the beetle slowly shredded, perhaps the back of the   
   blade should have been wider.   
   jsw   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)