Case Coloured Hardened – Greener
It is without doubt with initial trepidation that I got ready to case colour harden my W.W. Greener action. I am intent on learning and honing the case colour hardening skill. For this attempt I have wrapped some steel wire around the action to stimulate water activity as it is plundged into the quenching tank. Also, in order to stimulate/disrupt the water flow, I place a metal disc at the front of the canister. This would hit the water first and act as a bow.
Once the canister is filled (and tapped down with a light hammer occasionally) the kiln is fired up for an hour and a quarter firing at 723 Degrees Celcius. I leave the canister in the kiln whilst it’s getting to firing temperature too and that takes another 1.5 hours. Once it’s there two of us do the quenching job. One of us uses my home made tool to grab the canister and sit it in the guides on the metal play above the quench barrel. An hour before hand I’ve airated the water with a compressor and we’ve also chilled the water by emptying my fridge/freezers ice chamber and bring the water to very cold.
It’s then a dump into the chamber with a quick pull of the bottom gate off the bottom of the canister…and I think with great results!
What bone charcoal are you using? There do dot appear to be many red colours in the hardening proccess you are using,I know the red colours seem to be the most difficult to achieve,I find the problem with this”art form” that we are enthusiastic about,is that everything about the proccess seems to be kept secret,full marks to you for disclosing your proccess and results so freely.You have inspired me to get going on my own Farquharson build project,I have now got my furnace up and running,all I need now is the time to use it!Many thanks for you inspiration!
C.M.B.
France.
It’s a 50/50 mix I think. Red has to be hotter I believe. Thanks for the comments I’ll keep posting and best of luck with your efforts. Please keep me posted.