tools in a fire?

[Handyfarmer]

back ground; sons house burnt down about two weeks ago,

he had a upper and lower tool box with drawers, and had a fair number of tools in it most wrenches and sockets, and some specialty tools,

It burnt the plastic trays the sockets and wrenches were in, and the drawers are warped to to the point where the drawers will not open or move, with out extreme force, I really do not know how hot they got, the chrome is still on them, but discolored, but not necessarily a heat color is discernible, such as straw yellow or the blues hews that one can see when heating some thing, more soot covered.

the box was near the open garage door,

I would guess the temper is out of the tools, (I am guessing wrenches and sockets are tempered),

for temporary use until insurance and such and replacement can be made,

First are wrenches tempered?
could they be shop re-tempered?

would they have to annealed first?

what heat? and then oil quench?

any suggestions?

or just use and if they bend or split replace?

 

[2oolhound]

Tool steel is hardened then reheated to temper the tools which toughens them but removes hardening.

I don't think there was too much damage to your tools but I'd let them replace them. I'd go ahead and use them in the mean time and beyond.. Tempering is highly controlled these days with specific heating times, cooling off times and baths so unless you wanted to experiment I wouldn't bother.

 

[Milton Shaw]

Take a few wrenches and try them on large allen wrenches in a vise..If you cannot bend or break them then they didn't get hot enough to hurt them. Insurance probably won't replace all of them with as good a brand as you originally had. Hardening happens in the 1200-2000 degree range and then tempering at under 900 or so unless the fire was very hot for a long time I doubt that temper and hardness is compromised, appearance yes. Now if the whole box was at red hot heat and the fireman soaked the box down then they are much harder and will break at just the slightest pressure.

 

[rsanter]

If you have the insurance for them get them replaced.
I suspect that they are effected but you will only know by using them

Bob

 

[Richard Cranium]

Yes, I would just let the insurance replace them, You can do a lot of damage to your self when a tool fails.

 

[toomany]

I've got a fair number of tools from a garage fire that I helped clean up afterwords. Sockets, wrenches, pliers, etc... Most all of the chrome ones have some kind of bluing/yellowing to the finish. While I don't use them as my first choice, the times that I have, they have been just fine.

If the insurance will cover them, great. But don't just toss them out. If anything they might be good to keep around in case you need to modify one. I'd feel better about cutting up a wrench/socket like that than one of my good ones.

 

[Empty Pockets]

I would file a claim with the insurance company, and replace them. If the policy has a full replacement value, get the same brand/quality, Don't let the insurance company force you into lesser quality stuff

 

[BDT/NWMN]

If in his position, I would like to see them replaced with the same brands and models, tool boxes included.. Hopefully the full replacement cost will be covered by the insurance?

 

[HMCFab9]

If you do get new ones, someone might be interested in the old ones for decorative use.
With the rising interest in blacksmithing & blacksmithing shows, lots of guys are making stuff out of old tools.

 

[Danglerb]

Take some pictures of both the tools and the box and area around it, and show them to people that know fire damage and what levels of heat exposure were likely to have occurred vs our wild *** guesses.

I would include absolutely everything in the inventory presented to insurance, but also count on them paying less. OTOH sometimes they follow some set of rules and you have to work at keeping the smile off your face when you pick up the check. My own experience with a garage fire is that the insurance had a hard cap of 10% of the total structure coverage for the garage, then weaseled on that until we told them to shove it.