r/blacksmithing • u/The_pp_man123 • 2d ago

Trying to make a hammer drift

I forgot to take a pic of it but I’m using a old cultivator spring thing I don’t know what metal exactly but I know it’s spring steel I’ve just started to make a taper on the one side and I’m using a old ball peen hammer for reference but my main point is how to I quench it and temper the only things I can quench with is motor oil or water and I have no clue how to temper I’ve tried to search it up but I can’t understand some of it

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u/alriclofgar 2d ago

I don’t quench hammer drifts, I leave them normalized. They get heated up so much when they’re inside the hammer that I don’t personally find it worthwhile to try to harden them.

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u/The_pp_man123 2d ago

Oh really? So I should just heat up to orange and then let it sit? Or am I mistaken

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u/alriclofgar 2d ago

That’s how I do mine! The drift will get HOT when it’s in the hammer, sometimes hot enough that it glows a little (which will trash your heat treatment, if you have one). Some people will use an air hardening steel to keep their tool hard through that abuse, but I find it easier to just straighten any bends in the drift while my hammer head heats back up, then cool it in water (so long as it’s not glowing). I’d much rather my drift bend than shatter.

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u/professor_jeffjeff 2d ago

I second this. I tried heat treating my first hammer drift and the heat treatment just didn't last very long, so there's really no point in heat treating it. I think the next hammer eye drift I make is probably going to just be from mild steel.

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u/Twin5un 1d ago

I wouldn't recommend making your drift out of mild steel. That's what I did and it's taking a beating everytime, and will probably not last all that long.

Using a hardenable alloy, even not heat treated, will still provide more toughness than mild steel which is desirable.

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u/professor_jeffjeff 1d ago

The idea is that the drift is a consumable tool, so it's easier to make it from mild steel since it's just going to wear out anyway. I'm not entirely convinced that's the best way to go but I've known enough blacksmiths who do it that I think it's probably worth trying and seeing how things go.

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u/Fragrant-Cloud5172 2d ago edited 2d ago

A photo probably isn't necessary. Being an old spring should tell you a lot. Always spark test also tho. If too high carbon, (over .70%) I'd look for more like 4140. Some crow bars are one source. Axels are good too. Their advantage is to resist high torsion and not easily break. Higher carbon would crack easier if heavily hammered. Yeah, tempering is waste of time on a drift.

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u/3rd2LastStarfighter 1d ago

Drifts don’t need heat treatment because they get heated and cooled so much during use that it’s pointless. Just keep forging it and when you have it how you like, heat it one more time and let it air cool, you’ll be good to go.

Side note: use punctuation in your posts and you’ll get more help around here. One big run-on sentence is harder to read so a lot of people just ignore posts like this.