Machinist

[Lawrence London <lfljvenaura@gmail.com>]

Materials for tooling, hand tools, etc.| Music wire | O1 drill rod
http://www.practicalmachinist.com/vb/general/music-wire-258460/

Notes: 1/8" music wire for tooling, use in garden hand tools OR use O1 drill rod -
grind flats on music wire if need them, i.e. blades

Comments:
1)
using 1/8" music wire for the blade of a curved leather awl? The sharp end is somewhat flattened and brought to a sharp point. The awl needs to be strong and resist bending, yet not so brittle that the end breaks off in use.
Would you aneal, shape, retemper, then stress relieve, or bend and shape as is
2)
I don't think you can bend it as is, it would likely snap, i would bend with heat applied, anneal, heat/quench then temper. be carfull with it after the quench, it will be very brittle untill tempered.
High quality spring wire should be able to coil on its own diameter. It is meant to be formed cold. If you do a re-heat treatment, you should be able to get hardness around Rc 60, as music wire is high carbon (.70-1.00%).
3)

Music wire is spring temper. I wouldn't go hammering it flat cold as it will soon crack. Used as is,with the flats GROUND on it,it will be perfect. A spring is about a maximum of 52 Rockwell C. Fully hardened,it could go nearly 67 RC. That is WAY too hard and will have NO strength. Draw it back to a blue color if you anneal it,hammer it and re harden it.

4)
Another inexpensive option might be O1 drill rod. Should cost around $3 for a 3' length of 1/8" and may be easier to form your point.
It gets pretty tough with double-tempering.