How do I get a hard new edge on some old wood chisels?

Question

I understand there is a way to heat the steel and dip it in cold water

Answer 1

the best way is to get a flat whetstone some and apply some honing oil and move the edge of the tool (in figure eight motion) across the whole surface of the stone. you can get a real razor edge that way. What your talking about i think is sharpening with a grinder and dip it in water when it heats up so not to remove the temper of the chisel.

Answer 2

Old wood chisels will not need to be heat treated, if they have been taken care of. If you have been cutting nails etc, maybe you need a good file to level out the notches. But you should be able to sharpen them with a stone. DO NOT US A GRINDING WHEEL

Yes you can heat steel and dip in cold water, it makes steam and makes the water boil for a moment. Depending on the color of the steel when you drop in in the water what will happen. Most likely you will crystallize it and it will shatter the first lick with a hammer or what ever.

If you want to play at heat treating metal, there are books that will tell you the different colors to heat the metal for different tools. I would suggest you use oil instead of water to quince.

Answer 3

Wow, you would think that you were trying to counterfit money by these answers you have received.

These are wood chisels so I doubt that you would shatter one the first time you used it. My metal shop teacher in high school had each of us make a chisel for one of our class projects. But first he explained what tempering steel meant.

The molecules in steel are elongated and lined up with each other. This is why steel can be bent easily without snapping. When a piece of steal is heated, these molecules begin to move about, kind of like boiling. when the steel reaches red hot or higher, these molecules are moving about at a highly activated pace. When suddenly place in a cold liquid, these molecules lock in place. All enter tangled with one another. This is tempered.

By all means, sharpen them and temper them. Nothing ventured nothing gained.

Answer 4

I use a "Hollow Grind" machine once a year, then all I have to do is give them a light touch on a oil stone to dress up the edge. If you heat up a wood chisel, or use a grinder on one, then just throw it out. You will never re temper the steel at home, and it will never hold an edge again.

Answer 5

If the chisels are in such poor condition that you need to harden and temper them, a process that requires a little more than you describe, you would be well advised to throw them away and buy new ones.l

Answer 6

There is an element powder you can put on the chisel once it is cherry hot. It a hardner.

Answer 7

Take Uncle Bob's advice.