Need advice heating thin o1 tool steel

[truckeic]

I have some thin o1 tool steel pieces. 1/32 thick and 2" long. So what advice for hardening and tempering on these parts.

Thanks

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[awerby]

You can use stainless foil and charcoal granules to avoid oxidizing the surface, if that's important to you. Make a sealed package with the foil that has the steel and the granules inside; the charcoal will eat up most of the oxygen as you bring it up to heat in a kiln.. Unwrap and quench it in oil when it's red hot to harden it; the tempering process happens at a low heat (about 400F, depending on what you're going for) so the wrap isn't necessary for that part. Careful of the foil - the edges are very sharp...

[truckeic]

You can use stainless foil and charcoal granules to avoid oxidizing the surface, if that's important to you. Make a sealed package with the foil that has the steel and the granules inside; the charcoal will eat up most of the oxygen as you bring it up to heat in a kiln.. Unwrap and quench it in oil when it's red hot to harden it; the tempering process happens at a low heat (about 400F, depending on what you're going for) so the wrap isn't necessary for that part. Careful of the foil - the edges are very sharp...

I was going to build a forge out of firebrick and use a propane torch.
This is for some trigger components for a gun..

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[awerby]

If you're talking about a regular propane torch that screws onto a hand-held bottle of gas, that would be marginal - it could work if your piece is small enough, but might not put out enough heat. One of those big "weed burner" torches fed by a BBQ tank would work, though. People also power their forges with home-made burners like this: https://ronreil.abana.org/design1.shtml

[truckeic]

If you're talking about a regular propane torch that screws onto a hand-held bottle of gas, that would be marginal - it could work if your piece is small enough, but might not put out enough heat. One of those big "weed burner" torches fed by a BBQ tank would work, though. People also power their forges with home-made burners like this: https://ronreil.abana.org/design1.shtml

What about MAP torch

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[awerby]

MAP gas is hotter than regular propane, but not by much. It could work (eventually) for small pieces like you describe, but it will always be a limiting factor. Use insulating firebrick, not the hard kind, and try to enclose the area holding the work as much as possible.