I have been making springs of one form or another for some forty years but it has been try to make it now and it will not be the same pattern as the last one you made. In consequence not all the springs I have made have been a success purely because they where made using a gas torch and muffle furnace Silver steel (drill rod) or oil tempering Gauge plate because that was the material at hand. Though I have been successful in making a couple of shotgun main springs though with a number of failures along the way, but I did have success using Stubbs Files for the material after annealing and tempering using the standard visual colour temperature method surrounding the spring in sand to slow things down for the final annealing, Stubbs was a Brit manufacturer of the best specialised steels and fine quality engineering files that when past their useful life as a file where made into all sorts of hand tools especially screw drivers, but alas the company is no longer with us.
I did watch Jack Rowe on u tube making springs and drawing the temper by using the old method of flaring Whale oil which is a commodity as hard to find as hens teeth today though I must say it was one of the best ways for any spring maker to get it right, but up to the 1950s you could buy Whale oil by the gallon for all sorts of engineering uses, though now I am personally pleased to see the cessation of commercial exploitation of whales for what ever reason and long may it stay that way.
