Howdy guys
I no longer have a ht oven and don't really feel like doing a shade tree job. I need 4 total die bodies heated treated to recut them for a different chamber.

Anyone willing to do this?

Thanks
J

You wouldn't be less expensive to buy a blank?

Normally, sure
in this case....
its converting a full set of 470AR to 476 AR -- all the small pieces are done, dies and gages in hand ..

Jeff surely you know some custom knife makers over there in Texas.

Believe it or not but I've used the cleaning cycle on my electric oven to anneal Mauser bolt shrouds. May be worth a try.

Jeff

I have ovens

Problem......what kind of steel are these made of?

John, what temperature does that cleaning cycle operate ? 800 F ? I wouldn't call that anneal but a "temper anneal" or "sub-critical anneal".
As long as it can be cut cleanly and easily that's fine .

I've also used the cleaning cycle on my oven to take the hardness out of carbon steel parts prior to re-machining them.

I've wrapped the parts in aluminum foil, and put a bit of crumbled charcoal briquette in with the item. The charcoal uses up the oxygen within the wrapping, so that very little scaling occurs.

I've done small parts, threaded bolts for die bodies, and single shot receivers that i want to refinish before re-case coloring. I don't think that this "drawing out" of the metal is a substitute for annealing, most of the better case color guys will anneal it fully and then re-case it. But, it does soften the metal where it is much easier to draw file and polish. I think it would do the same for a set of dies, although I haven't personally done that.

What I usually do for one-of dies is use a grade 8 black steel bolt. I special ordered them from Fastenal to match the die thread, I think they cost me about $2.30 each. I oven anneal the bolt, and then center it in the lathe and drill/bore it concentric, and then use a chamber reamer to cut the die. I've used them without rehardening, they seem to do fine as long as you polish really smooth.

thank guys.. good advice and considerations .. i sold my oven when i moved from the old house... and several other things, to boot...

this is a one off thing.. well, 2 off .. likely the last thing i use THIS lathe for, as i am planning on selling it and my mill -- oh, i'll replace them, but focused on flying right now

jeffe

Steel type?

Without this info I wouldn't anneal anything worth anything