Tools of almost every description may be purchased at reasonable
prices, but the practice of making one's own tools cannot be too
strongly recommended. It affords a way out of many an emergency, and
where time is not too valuable, a saving will be realized. A few bars
of fine tool steel, a hammer, and a small anvil, are all that are
required, aside from fire and water. The steel should be heated to a
low red, and shaped with as little hammering as possible; it may then
be allowed to cool slowly, when it may be filed or ground to give it
the required form. It may now be hardened by heating it to a cherry
red and plunging it straight down into clean cool (not too cold)
water. It should then be polished on two of its sides, when the temper
may be drawn in the flame of an alcohol lamp or Bunsen gas burner; or,
if these are not convenient, a heated bar of iron may be used instead,
the tool being placed in contact with it until the required color
appears. This for tools to be used in turning steel, iron, and brass
may be a straw color. For turning wood it may be softer. The main
point to be observed in tempering a tool is to have it as hard as
possible without danger of its being broken while in use. By a little
experiment the amateur will be able to suit the temper of his tools to
the work in hand.
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