cleaning with fire

denny

the last couple of times i used my shears i got lazy,washed them in water at the sink and dried them at the gas stove.
theres got to be something wrong with this,its too easy.
does fire dull the edge,or ruin it in any other way?

__________________
Denny
Still Growing in zone 9
So.Cal.

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TreeBay

Should be okay as long as you don't get the tools red hot. That might begin to affect someone's temper!

Regards,

Matt

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mskovan

Happy New Year to All,
This is a pretty old thread but I thought I should add my 2 cents to this topic. As a professional welder of 30 years and an artist-blacksmith for the last 6 or 7 I know a little about heating steel. Matt's advice about not getting tools red hot is most certainly true. That would definitely ruin a cutting tool made of high grade steel.
HOWEVER, you will begin to affect the temper of cutting edges at much lower temperatures. Using the heat from a kitchen stove to dry tools is an excellent idea as long as you keep the tool below 300 degrees F. As you approach 400 F you will start to soften the hardest areas of the tool. [b:e98cbddfc2]It is especially important to not pass thin cutting edges directly through a flame! [/b:e98cbddfc2]The razor thin edges will almost instantly exceed the 400 F danger zone. It is, after all, the first couple layers of steel molecules that do the actual cutting.
So in summary, drying tools over the stove is OK as long as you don't get them too hot to handle. Remember water boils at only 212 degrees F. [b:e98cbddfc2]And don't forget to oil them well after.[/b:e98cbddfc2] A safer alternative would be to borrow the wife's blow dryer, but that might mean dealing with another kind of temper altogether..........Mike

ripsgreentree

Exelent advice Mike, thanks for the informed input. Especially about the quality of diffrent tempers. one could take the edg off of your grafting knife the other could take the edg off of you................come back often.......rips

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ripsgreentree

It requires an open hand to give and to recieve.

denny

right you are mike,blow dryers are definatly off limits.
thanks for your two cents,i may change my drying habits,though drying was second,steiralization was my main idea.
how bout lysol?anybody?
i been lookin for hexall,but i guess they dont sell it here.

__________________
Denny
Still Growing in zone 9
So.Cal.

TreeBay

Hexall is over with the first aid stuff at the drugstore... Bactine, Witch Hazel, Bandaids & single malt whiskey area.

Regards,

Matt

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