Hello Ed!!! Hope the show went well for you!! Now for the question...I recently made my first forge attempt and need advise on heat treat. I used an old cold chisel to forge my first blade and have no idea as to what the steel is, or if it will even make a decent blade when finished. I had no other material at hand to forge and just had to pound on something to keep from busting at the seams. :lol: . What type of steel is most common in chisels and how would one go about heat treating them? Any help you can offer is greatly appreciated. And the more opinions the better so lets hear what you fellas think on this....thanks guys.

Hello Mike, your post seemed to go un-noticed. I just saw it today. Most simple hand tools are W-1 because it is a low cost steel. It will heat treat just like 1095 so go over to the threads on 1095. It's a good descussion on HT.

Hello Mike,
Ed is away for a few days.
I have used files but not chisels.
It should work.
Heat treat it like high carbon steel and take your time tempering it back.
Let us know how it turns out..

Sorry guys. Gene didn't realize I was logged on. He actually made the post - I didn't all of a sudden become a knifemaker. :)

Hi Mike Gene is right all you can do is treat it like a high carbon. I would try to harden in oil first if that does not work then go to a brine or water for the quench. Once you get it hard I would temper back slowly starting at 325 degrees then check it with the brass rod test (drag the edge along the brass rod thereby applying sideways force to it) until you get the edge to not break or bend, so you can see the edge bow and go back to straight. With unknown and used material this is about all you can do. Hope that helps.

Looks like your question was answered pretty well. I'd add that if the oil quench doesn't work try ATF before going to water or brine. It quenchs faster than oil but won't be as violent on the steel as water or brine. I used it on a tomahawk of unknown material a while back (oil wouldn't harden it) and it worked great.
Jon