Reply To: click spring

[Bob Tascione]

Hi Lad111,

The following assumes that the steel used is the same high carbon steel used in the original spring for this era and not a modern alloy. The temp. range can fluctuate a little depending on the steel used but most carbon steels will fall in the following range.
If you only want to cut or grind the spring off shorter you should be able to do this without heating. If you would like to reform the spring then you would heat (anneal) it as you suggested by bringing it to a cherry red color and then allow it to slowly cool down. This will soften the steel to allow bending. After you reach the shape and length you’re after you will then need to harden and then temper the spring. You would again heat the steel to a dark orange or cherry red color and then quench it in water. Heat treating oil is best used when heat treating modern steels that allow for oil quenching but not for older medium and high carbon steel. After heat treating the steel will be very hard and brittle. Any bending at this point will break the piece. You will then need to temper it back to a tougher spring steel hardness by first cleaning the part with a piece of steel wool or fine emery paper to the point where it is clean and shiny steel. This will make it possible to see the color change that is necessary for the tempering process. If the spring is a blue color before starting this process then make note of the shade. This will be the color you will try to reach during tempering. If not blue then slowly heat the part until it reaches dark blue and then as it passes into a light blue color remove it from the flame or oven. If using a flame try to remove the piece slowly from the flame to allow for slow cooling. If using an oven then after reaching desired temperature (color) turn off the heat and leave in the oven until cool. It should be ready to use after tempering.
Heat treating can sometimes cause warping of the part so you may wish to wrap it in iron binding wire to help keep it’s shape.

Hope this helps!
Bob