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Old 05-14-2019, 01:58 PM
EntaGeweorc EntaGeweorc is offline
 
Join Date: May 2019
Posts: 2
Steel hardened without quenching?

Howdy folks, very amateur blacksmith here. I've been working on shaping a chunk of 5160 in my coal forge and now that I'm starting to grind before I do the heat treat I keep hitting spots where the file (I like to hand file small details) keeps sliding right off as if its been hardened from quenching.

-I've been getting it to yellow/bright orange heat so I know if it somehow had any hardness from its previous life as a truck leaf spring it would be gone
-It's a coal forge
-Whenever I'm done working it I let it air cool
-Has NOT been quenched
-I only hammer it when its at least cherry red so it shouldn't be work hardening (although that shouldn't happen anyway because its spring steel)
-Some spots the file bites, while others it skates right off

Any thoughts? I'm really puzzled on this one and want to see if I can fix it before I ruin some grinding belts just trying to muscle through it
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