New Gold Detecting Pick

[Nightjar]

depends on the steel mackka
you get
air hardening steel
water hardening steel
oil hardening steels
depends on what the steel is used for

people get the hardening and tempers process back to front mackka

harden then temper
when it is hardened the steel can be quite brittle that is why you temper it

you don't want to forge a nice cold chisel and first hit with the hammer and it explodes into thousands of pieces and shreds the wrist mackka not good mate
that's why you temper it to a certain hardness
different colours define how hard you want the steel to be mackka

that's why you have to be very carefull when using a angle grinder to sharpen the pick
if it is to hot to touch you have more than likely already started to change the temper
here is a little chart mackka

View attachment 10982
dull red to bordering on bright red are about the scope for hardening most steels (heated till it is non magnetic what they call critical temperature)

from light straw to dark grey are the common temper colours
cheers mate hope that cleared the muddy waters for you mate

Still have and use a centre punch I machined, hardened and tempered back in the 60's.
We heated the tools to red and dunked them in oil. Emery clothed the tip back to shiny then heated with oxy torch and watch the dark blue colour run down to the tip then quench again and leave to cool.

 

[Nightjar]

Pick I made back in 2009, Carol has dug 100's of nuggets and it's still as good as new, well the paint has gone.

 

[Hawkear]

Great work 20x. 1. clearing the area to more clarify the target area. 2. Great digging effort. 3. Learning something provided by the stratigraphy of the hole. 4 filling it all back in so well.
Deserved a nugget but then that’s life. There’s always another hole.

 

[sand surfer]

Still have and use a centre punch I machined, hardened and tempered back in the 60's.
We heated the tools to red and dunked them in oil. Emery clothed the tip back to shiny then heated with oxy torch and watch the dark blue colour run down to the tip then quench again and leave to cool.



View attachment 11153

it's good when you make a tool yourself NJ and it lasts a life time
what steel did you use to make it -1080 or 1090

 

[Mackka]

i have to slow down when i read stuff. I read it as “ It’s good when you make a tool of yourself”. Oops.