Making cheap micro chisels with music wire

I recently came across an article describing how to create your own micro chisels and carving tools using music wire, which is a high-carbon steel often sold in R/C hobby stores as connecting rods. It isn't super high-grade tool steel or even HSS, but it's more than adequate since it's cheap and I don't have any over-heating concerns. I picked up a couple 3-ft sticks for about $1 each.

To start, I cut two 5-6" lengths, ground about 1" of one end square and hardened and tempered the tip with a blow torch. Normally I wouldn't temper the blade, but since these are so small, I was concerned they might chip too easily. Then I ground down the sides on a water wheel until the blade was roughly 2mm wide. Finally, I put a 45-degree bevel on the cutting edge. I happened to have a bunch of hard maple scraps around, so I also made some handles for the chisels.

I use them to clean out the neck slot for the sides, especially the top binding slot where it joins the neck, among other things. Not bad for less than a buck.