Frizzen hardening

[PADave]

I've heard and read all kinds of 'recipes' for hardening a frizzen. What's your favorite method?

I've typically been a kasenite/cherry red subscriber. I recently tried to harden a worn out Lyman frizzen for a friend, but things didn't go well.
I suspect it was my differential heating - I had torch issues mid-process.

I've also heard you really only have one shot and hardening or it's scrap.

 

[Phil Coffins]

Which alloy of steel are you dealing with?

 

[Commodore Swab]

I've also heard you really only have one shot and hardening or it's scrap.

Nope

 

[rchas]

Is the frizzen made of a steel that can be hardened? Many are not, and are case hardened in the factory; which your friend found out. Case hardening compounds will work for a little while although the case hardened surface just isn't very thick. The key to using the compounds is getting frizzen face to a cherry red and keeping it that way for several minutes so the compound can penetrate. Keep heating it and adding compound as it boils off; then dunk in water. Polish the frizzen face and heat to faint straw color.

An alternative is tightly packing the frizzen in a tin can with powdered charcoal; then throwing it in the center of a hot fire (again think cherry red) for a couple of hours. After the fire dies down, reheat to cherry red and quench. If a file won't cut it, you have been successful. Again temper the face to a faint straw, and the foot/pivot to blue.

The easiest thing to do..... order a new frizzen.

 

[IanH]

Put a shoe of known correct material on it and never look back.