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  • Is stainless softer than mild steel? I think I have a big sheet of mild steel at my parents.

    Worth it if I have the material already?

  • Most stainless in sheet form generally doesn't harden in any useful way - cutting two spanners from scratch in a steel with sufficient carbon (i.e. not mild steel) will take time and effort. You might do better starting with a cheap stamped steel one that can be annealed if necessary, filed to size, then hardened again?
    Quenching in water is cheap - the resultant steam is inoffensive. Expect the steel to rust soon afterwards.
    Quenching in oil should leave a finish that is more likely resist corrosion - looks a bit like bluing if you take the trouble to temper it- but will fill the room with noxious fumes.
    I can't imagine something with the thermal capacity of a cone spanner both vaporizing oil and being hot enough to ignite it, assuming the torch is turned off at the time...

    (Waits for mdcc_tester to give a more correct explanation)

  • Waits for mdcc_tester to give a more correct explanation

    You pretty much nailed it.

    The enormous gain in efficiency which derives from division of labour means that pretty much anybody would be better off doing their day job than making one-off spanners.

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