[Christopher Finneman]

Hello there

I have a question about MRL hardness on there pole arms. I got a dicontinued volgue while back and its a allright looking piece I welded the blade to the langets but my question is.
If its as they say " tough high carbon steel" why in the world is it so soft!
I mean it nicks very easily and I have a few mild steel beaters that nick or mark it.
Does anyone else have this problem?
I got it cheap but would like to play with it without the thought of it breaking

Thanks for any input
Christopher

[Garth Thompson]

To be honest I know nothing about the MRL stuff.
If it seems soft around where you welded the blade to the langets, I would think the welding took the temper out of the steel and made it soft.
If the whole thing seems soft it could be the heat treat. A tough high carbon steel with a poor heat treat or tempered at too high a temp will be soft.
Just my opinion.

[George Doby]

if the overall hardness is soft that mild steel nicks it, it will probably not b reak but will bend depending on thickness. too hard(i.e. brittle) will tend to break. however the constant nicking will be annoying but that is probably why it was closed out. i would go ahead and use it.