First Color Case Hardening Project

[Janderso]

I’ve been working on a squareness comparator.
The base was the last piece. It’s low carbon steel.
It’s not pretty but I did learn quite a bit. It will have to do. Unless I get a wild hair and try it again.
Meh.
25% bone, 75% wood charcoal.
The next step is to press ball bearings into the bottom and then surface grind them flat for footings.

 

[DiscoDan]

Very timely. At Tuckahoe we are working on a new countershaft for our Fellows gear shaper and we had to fabricate a new part for the clutch and it needs case hardening. Tomorrow we are testing our oven and process that includes a mix of 85% charcoal, 10% flour, 5% washing soda. I believe we are wrapping it in some sort of clay. What did you wrap yours in? I will take pictures and report back on the results

 

[DiscoDan]

And fyi, I don't think flour is wheat flour, I think it may be bone flour

 

[benmychree]

Very nice, Jeff!

 

[lordbeezer]

Little leather added to mix wouldn’t hurt.

 

[Nutfarmer]

The base looks fine to me. Great project

 

[DiscoDan]

Jeff, what did you wrap it in, what temp and how long?

 

[Jake M]

It’s not pretty but I did learn quite a bit. It will have to do. Unless I get a wild hair and try it again.
Meh.

I have to disagree. While it has no usefulness in something that would require a consistant surface treatment, given that it has no bearing on the function of your comparitor, I have to say that I really like the look of that. It'll look even better with a few hears of handling.

 

[brino]

Jeff,
That looks great!
Brian

 

[Janderso]

Very timely. At Tuckahoe we are working on a new countershaft for our Fellows gear shaper and we had to fabricate a new part for the clutch and it needs case hardening. Tomorrow we are testing our oven and process that includes a mix of 85% charcoal, 10% flour, 5% washing soda. I believe we are wrapping it in some sort of clay. What did you wrap yours in? I will take pictures and report back on the results

I used stainless steel foil.
The more you look the more you see how many ingredients and methods have been used over the years.