Hi, I’m new to the forum. I just started forging and getting frustrated with the basics. I’ve forged and shaped two knives, and attempted hardening three more with no success.
All are unknown metals, but spark tested like the 4th of July.
The most recent I made from an axle from a 4-wheeler. I forged the shape, left it fairly thick, heated it to non-magnetic, then a few seconds more, and quenched in canola oil until it stopped bubbling, moving it back and forth the whole time. I then let it cool until I could touch it bare-handed and file tested it. The file just bit right in, not hard at all.
I tried the same process again, this time getting it yellow hot on the edge. Still not hard.
So, getting very frustrated, I got it yellow-hot again, and edge quenched it in water. Still not hard.
Could I be burning up the carbon by heating it too often during forging?
I want to get the basic processes down pat, before I use my expensive steels.
Obviously not an active forum…
Hey @Samal - yeah community growth is slow here, honestly I’m the only mod and just not getting word out. Most people find their way here just through google but just to look up an article and not join, which is completely fine, but just the way it is 
Unknown metal is hard to work with because it can be variable - your process sounds good to me, but we don’t know what type of metal that spring was - it might not harden by oil? If you are not getting it hard by quenching it in water after bringing the metal to non-magnetic, I’d chalk it up for something not for tools. Quenching a high carbon steel in water would make it so hard so fast it’d form cracks.
I’d suggest if you wanted to test before using known steel, find some more “junk yard” steel of a different source. The spring steel should work. It should skid a file after the process you took above.
Once you do get a hardened piece of steel, be sure to normalize it afterwards!