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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jan 2004
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    Mackay North Qld
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    6,446

    Default Color case hardening

    In response to a query in the electrical forum.

    This comes up once in a while in Muzzleloading and firearms circles.

    family guy
    I couldn't find the notes and think they maybe be with a book I had lent and never got back.

    The procedure I recall involved crushed cow hooves for the carbon content. As the name suggests the colour is a result but also the thin skin of hardness covering the surface of the treated part to a shallow part.

    It applies to parts like lock side plates and flintlock frizzen faces. My black powder Pedersoli Tryon .54 cal roundball percussion rifle has colour case hardened, lock plate, butt plate and patch ball cover plate.


    https://www.youtube.com › watch?v=spj9ndC452M

    from the Muzzleloading Forum-American-:
    true color case hardening is a whole new world. you need a metal crucible, that has a tight air proof lid. bone meal, and a hot fire. it is involved. if not done right you wind up with warped parts or cracked,

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9ExouQ2byY

    also a selection of random discussion about same subject in the yank Muzzleloading forum.

    I hope you can get in without a login

    https://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/t...dening.104405/
    Also talk of bone meal.Is that the same as our very own Oz blood and bone fertilizer?

    I hope this assists.

    Grahame
    Last edited by Grahame Collins; 30th Mar 2023 at 01:00 PM. Reason: extra stuff I missed 1st time around

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Dec 2007
    Location
    Adelaide
    Posts
    574

    Default

    Thanks for the links - if you haven't already seen this, it is well worth checking out, uses wood and bone charcoal, no cyanide involved

    (2) Color Casehardening: A photo and video tutorial | Home Model Engine Machinist Forum

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jan 2004
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    Mackay North Qld
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    Default

    I picked up from some of those links that CCH was not good for the electric Heat treatment oven elements and continued use may contribute to premature failure.

    A good thing to know.

    Grahame
    Last edited by Grahame Collins; 25th Apr 2023 at 11:23 PM.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jun 2013
    Location
    Tasmania
    Posts
    257

    Default

    I've done a bit of CCH.

    Most of what I know came from this thread on the Marlin Collectors forum: https://marlin-collectors.com/forum/...pic.php?t=3732

    Made my own bone and hardwood charcoal by collecting cow bones and hardwood, packing in tightly into large tin with a vent hole and burning the whole thing in a fire pot.

    https://metalworkforums.com/f268/t20...ni-rifle-build

    Shielding of the parts for the quench is very important for colour formation. But otherwise the process was not overly complicated. Doesn't need to be an air tight crucible, but well packed with charcoal to limit exposure to oxygen and the burning hot charcoal consumes the local oxygen protecting the part.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Sep 2012
    Location
    York, North Yorkshire UK
    Posts
    6,439

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Grahame Collins View Post
    I picked up from some of those links that CCH was not good for the electric Heat treatment oven elements and continued use may contribute to premature failure.

    A good thing to know.

    Grahame
    Hi Grahame, I don't know but I suspect that might be an urban myth !
    Best Regards:
    Baron J.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Apr 2023
    Location
    Pasadena, California
    Age
    30
    Posts
    6

    Default

    Here is another useful video on this topic https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0EW_4TP6u8

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Sep 2016
    Location
    Lancashire England
    Posts
    3

    Default Another video for Colour Case Hardening

    Hi All, here is another video form AA Brown Gunmakers near Birmingham
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oceR5f8d9WM

    I have done a little and had reasonable results -- still learning ! I have done a fair amount of commercial case hardening for toolroom work back in the 1960's but CCaseH is somewhat different particularly in relation to temperature and of course the hardening medium.

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