Frizzen hardening question

[Sidney Smith]

You were told wrong. Motor oil is one of the worst/poorest quenches one could use. It is made for lubrication and not heat treat quenching. It will impart absolutely no carbon of any significance into steel and its vapors are very toxic to breathe. Worst of all, it is a slow cooling quench and unsuitable for nearly all steels. You best oil, other than a formulated commercial quench oil, is often canola oil if you are working with a high carbon steel such as used for frizzens and most springs. 01 steel seems to work better than nothing with ATF, but again, very toxic vapors are produced.

I guess that's why mine didn't work. Oh well. Learn something every day. Thanks. I'm never going to try it again anyway. Not worth my trouble.

 

[Old Grunt]

Many years ago a old pipeline welder taught me how to caseharden with just a acetylene torch and water,interestingly its pretty much exact way folks have done it with storebought carbon in this thread, difference is rather then buy a can of something you just use carbon from straight acetyline flame, blacken the frizzen face pretty thick with soot,heat to cherry red,anouther layer of soot,hold at cherry red a few minutes drop in water,it takes a little practice to get hardness your after but it does work very well, I practiced with nails,#9 wire,or just small pieces of scrap steel to get decent at it

 

[James Kibler]

Many years ago a old pipeline welder taught me how to caseharden with just a acetylene torch and water,interestingly its pretty much exact way folks have done it with storebought carbon in this thread, difference is rather then buy a can of something you just use carbon from straight acetyline flame, blacken the frizzen face pretty thick with soot,heat to cherry red,anouther layer of soot,hold at cherry red a few minutes drop in water,it takes a little practice to get hardness your after but it does work very well, I practiced with nails,#9 wire,or just small pieces of scrap steel to get decent at it

If it was that simple, casehardeing compounds wouldn't exist. They are formulated to provide better depth and hardening. Though neither provide any reasonable depth sufficient for a frizzen.

Jim

 

[PhDBrewer]

So... what is the best case hardening compound that is available?
I was looking for some Kasenit and it is unobtainable.
Thanks!

 

[Billy Boy]

Many years ago a old pipeline welder taught me how to caseharden with just a acetylene torch and water,interestingly its pretty much exact way folks have done it with storebought carbon in this thread, difference is rather then buy a can of something you just use carbon from straight acetyline flame, blacken the frizzen face pretty thick with soot,heat to cherry red,anouther layer of soot,hold at cherry red a few minutes drop in water,it takes a little practice to get hardness your after but it does work very well, I practiced with nails,#9 wire,or just small pieces of scrap steel to get decent at it

Called, a carburizing flame, geezer gunsmiths have been doing it for a century or so, worked very good for me on small parts.

 

[Old Grunt]

Billy Boy, Thank you sir I was having a brain fart on correct word ..

 

[LRB]

You can easily get there with propane.

Read the instructions and watch your temps closely.

You don't want to overcook the steel.

That color chart cannot be completely trusted. The chart shows 1600°f as orange-red. 1475°f in my heat treat oven is orange-red. 1475°f is the temp that common table salt will melt, making it easy to check for that particular heat. That said, not everyone sees color exactly the same.