From: goodsoldierschweik@gmail.com   
      
   On Sun, 09 Jun 2013 03:49:18 -0400, Demhi Moss   
    wrote:   
      
   >I am trying to make a wooden spoon and I saw somewhere that bending a   
   >piece of metal and sharpening it makes it easier to scoop out the bowl   
   >portion of the spoon.   The problem is I don't have any metal I can do   
   >that with.  I can't seem to find a cheap high carbon steel knife to   
   >use.  All I have is a small Stainless Steel paring kife.   I would   
   >like to heat the blade up and then bend it around a small metal pipe   
   >so I get a "U" shaped bladed.   Then I would like to heat it up and   
   >quence it, then anneal it.   My questions are:   
   >1.) Can I do this with Stainless?   
   >2.) Can I use propane as a heat source?   
   >3.) Can I do it by heating it as hot and I can the first time and   
   >eyeballing it the second time or do I need a way to measure the temp?   
   >I think the first time I have to heat it untill the blade is no longer   
   >magnetic?   The second heating to anneal it.....well I have no idea.   
   >   
   >Any advice will be appreciated but know that in the end I'll still   
   >wind up with a burnt and broken knife and a screwed up stick that will   
   >probably end up as a back scratcher.   
   >Thanks   
   >Demhi   
      
   Stainless is a very general description of metal that doesn't, well   
   sometimes a little, rust and generally speaking contains minimum of   
   10.5% to 11% chromium content by mass.   
      
   There are innumerable variations of alloys all of which are called   
   "stainless" so, to answer your question is impossible although   
   generally I believe that you will find that a cheap stainless paring   
   knife is likely to be some very soft, but non staining, variation and   
   probably will not be capable of being heat treated.   
      
   Your description of heat treating sounds very like carbon steel where   
   you heat the steel to an austenitic condition - cherry-red, in some   
   explanations, or non-magnetic in others, quench the steel, which   
   results in maximum hardness (as well as maximum brittleness) and than   
   tempering it by heating to a lower temperature and either air cooling   
   or quenching again.   
      
   The old blacksmith method of hardening carbon steel was to heat it to   
   "cherry-red" - an austenitic condition - and quench in water, brine,   
   oil, or whatever magic solution you wish. Than grind or polish the   
   surface so you can see the colors and carefully heat it again, as the   
   steel gets hotter it will show a surface color, starting with light   
   yellow going through a series of colors, yellow, brown, light blue,   
   darker blue, all the way to purple. When you reach the desired color   
   you quench again to stop the tempering process. Light yellow produces   
   the hardest (and most brittle)  condition while purple would be the   
   softest (and least brittle) condition.   
      
   A knife or chisel might be a medium yellow, or perhaps a bit darker.   
      
   Exacto makes many different carving knives.... sometimes it is easier   
   and possibly cheaper to buy a proper knife rather than make do :-)   
   --   
   Cheers,   
      
   Schweik   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)