Drilling brass - not as easy as you'd think !

[JohnR725]

13 minutes ago, mikepilk said:

"pivot drill"

I snipped an image out of one of his books.

13 minutes ago, mikepilk said:

"pivot steel" to make them

The important thing with any steel you use is you verify that it actually can be Hardened by heat treating. I've attended several amusing lectures were people have attempted to make either springs or cutting tools only to realize that the steel lay had cannot be hardened. The consequence of grabbing something out of the miscellaneous bin of steel with zero idea what it actually is.

[mikepilk]

24 minutes ago, JohnR725 said:

I snipped an image out of one of his books.

The important thing with any steel you use is you verify that it actually can be Hardened by heat treating. I've attended several amusing lectures were people have attempted to make either springs or cutting tools only to realize that the steel lay had cannot be hardened. The consequence of grabbing something out of the miscellaneous bin of steel with zero idea what it actually is.

Page 195 - on your recommendation I bought the book! 

The Cousins steel is called "pivot blue steel, hardened and tempered". So should do the job. But then I thought that of their drills 

 

 

[rodabod]

Hi Mike. Best to buy stuff that you really know the quality of. On eBay you should be able to buy some “silver steel” which will hopefully quote the carbon content. It should be made in England (other countries of manufacture are available for other forum members!). 
 

Since you don’t have a lathe to reduce rod size, it may be tricky to get smaller sizes. In which case, if Cousins offer pivot steel at good prices then this may work as a solution. You would quite probably want to harden it. 

[rodabod]

These guys (Rennie) are good:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/182159243366