I found my Kasenit!

[RJSakowski]

My understanding is that wood charcoal or other fairly pure forms of carbon tend to be very slow to absorb into the steel, making them not as good for surface hardening. Charcoal made from leather, due to the tanning additives, works much faster. You can also mix some of the comercialy availbale hardening comounds in with charcoal or other forms of carbon, as these contain the additives which accelerate the absorption of the carbon.

Some of the sources that I saw claimed achieving a deeper case with charcoal than with than with Kasenit or Cherry Red. The process did take several hours. However, leather contains nitrogen compounds which form nitrides, also very hard. Sodium cyanide used to be the old tried and true case hardening compound and contains both carbon and nitrogen. It was largely discontinued in favor of ferrocyanide and ferricyanide compounds because of its high toxicity.

Case hardening has been around for more than a thousand years and the case hardening formulae were closely guarded secrets. Usually, some nitrogen bearing material like urine or manure were part of the recipe .

 

[vtcnc]

If you're referring to alkaline manganese cells, the black gunk between the central rod is primarily manganese dioxide with a bit of graphite added.

RJSakowski is spot on and confirmed. I used to work for one of the big battery companies and was amazed at the "carbon" plant, which was in reality a 24/7 manganese ore refinery where ore was plated out, crushed and shipped to the "carbon zinc" plants around the world.

 

[Wolfram Malukker]

I'm not sure why everyone seems to think this stuff isn't available...I just received two 1lb cans of it at the tool shop back in august. I have my can here at home that's only three years old...what's the deal?

 

[VSAncona]

I know this is an old thread, but hopefully some of you are still active here. This past summer, I bought an eighty-year-old Atlas lathe and along with it, I got this can of Kasenit. I thought the can was kind of cool-looking so I put it on a shelf instead of tossing it out. Then I started reading about it and learned that it’s no longer being made and old cans of it go for crazy prices. Two questions I have are this: Is there a shelf life for this product? Are there any safety precautions I need to take in handling it or storing it? I know it contains a form of cyanide, but is it safe when it’s just sitting in the can?

 

[pdentrem]

Safe to store as it is a stable compound unlike nitroglycerin!

 

[Diecutter]

I know this is an old thread, but hopefully some of you are still active here. This past summer, I bought an eighty-year-old Atlas lathe and along with it, I got this can of Kasenit. I thought the can was kind of cool-looking so I put it on a shelf instead of tossing it out. Then I started reading about it and learned that it’s no longer being made and old cans of it go for crazy prices. Two questions I have are this: Is there a shelf life for this product? Are there any safety precautions I need to take in handling it or storing it? I know it contains a form of cyanide, but is it safe when it’s just sitting in the can?

Kasenit is available as the attached photo of a new can shows. The can states "non-poisonous, non-inflammable and non-explosive". If I could get a crazy price for the old can, I would put it up on e-bay real quick. By the way, congratulations on your lathe acquistion.