Finally starting to get back to the hang of things | "Traditional" Blacksmithing | Forum

Actually I thought about that and realized that it shouldn't be a problem.

The stress of using the handle to lever out the slice of wood is minimal, the thickness of the blade does most of the work, so I think it should be fine.

I left it in an annealed state too, so it can be sharpened with a file/stone easily, so the metal should be pretty relaxed.

Regards,
Tim

I will be making more of these and I will only have so many with the built in eye, so I'll eventually be looking at making a closed eye. Especially if I want to make them more traditional looking. Right now, all I care about is function. 😀

Thanks for the compliments and comments,
Tim

Tom Allyn;10975 wrote: I get your point, Eric. And there's nothing better than experience in these matters.

But I can still imagine that an open eye might eventually fail. A froe handle doesn't exert anywhere near the force on the leaf that a 2000 pound axle load would. But it would exert a different kind of load, and eccentric load that the leaf was not designed for.

And keep in mind, a single leaf doesn't carry a vehicle, rather a stack of leaves does. Imagine how a single leaf would hold up under a vehicle load.

Splitting straight grain cedar the tool will probably last a lifetime. But with improper use on slabs of harder wood I think it would eventually fail.

Tom,

Even though leaf springs are stacked (in this case there was only one extra leaf). Isn't the eye still a week point? Of course, I didn't re-harden it either, so you may very well be right in the long run.

Warning: Smart-alec comment 😀

How about this: :giggle: I'll keep a record of every time I break/replace the handle and I know when it was made. Years from now, I'll come back and resurrect this thread and report on any failure of the open eye. :bounce::nerd: Kidding. 😀 Actually, I'll probably forget some time this weekend.

Regards,
Tim