: mick,

: Making a spring from stainless wire sounds like a good idea. McMaster-Carr
: has a selection of stainless spring wire. You probably would not be able
: to gain anything by trying to temper an existing spring because there are
: only a few heat treatable stainless alloys (400 series martensitic and the
: duplex alloys). If I recall correctly, Bosworth uses 300 series stainless
: for the spring. Heat treating a 300 series stainless will only make it
: softer.

: Thanks for the ideas,
: Sam

hi sam

been playing around w/ stainless wire for another application(skegs) and remembered your post.

if it doesn/t work harden(and i assume ht treating is a form of this-could be wrong), softening the series 300 would make the spring softer - what we want.

make any sense? or would it be too minimal to notice?

-mick