Originally Posted by mc
Not a chemical reaction edd

Really??? Maybe you should rethink that statement...

chem·i·cal re·ac·tion
/ˈkeməkəl rēˈakSHən/
Learn to pronounce
noun
noun: chemical reaction; plural noun: chemical reactions

a process that involves rearrangement of the molecular or ionic structure of a substance, as opposed to a change in physical form or a nuclear reaction.


With charcoal pack color case hardening, we are attempting to infuse carbon, carbon monoxide, and other chemicals into the surface of another chemical compound we all know as mild steel. Mild steel is a complex alloy of elemental iron, carbon, and various other metals. We may first anneal the steel of our action and parts to change the molecular structure imparted during initial forging or prior case hardening. We polish this steel to prepare it for the carbon based pack, which is primarily composed of wood and bone charcoal. We clean the steel to remove oils and other chemical contaminants. It is all packed into a sealed crucible to keep oxygen (another very reactive element) out during the heating to critical temperature. It is held at that high temperature for hours to permit various carbon compounds to penetrate into the surface of the steel.

At the proper time and temperature, the crucible is dumped into aerated H2O, a chemical also known as water. This chemical solvent may have some potassium nitrate added, or maybe not. Most practitioners want this quench solvent known as water to be rather cold. The contents of the crucible are typically dumped into the quench as close to the surface as humanly possible, to prevent oxygen from coming in contact with the red hot steel. This little controlled chemical step is done because excess oxygen during that brief instant will cause our desired colors to become dull gray and muted. Of course, dumping the red hot contents into the cold water quench causes a violent reaction where the liquid water is instantly turned to steam. The goal is to keep the carbon based pack in contact with the surface of the steel until the moment it hits the cold water quench. The water is often aerated and/or agitated to attempt to keep the water in contact with the extremely hot steel parts. And the molecular structure of the surface of our carbon infused steel is thusly frozen into a molecular arrangement that causes the pleasing refraction of light that our eyes perceive as Case Hardening Colors. Not seen is the dramatically increased surface hardness...

It isn't magic. It is all due to this multi-step chemical reaction that took a lot of experimentation to develop.

And it is quite complex. If it was as easy as heating parts and dumping them into a drum of water, people wouldn't pay lots of money to those who worked long hours to learn and perfect this chemical process.

So there you have it Ed. And your internet stalker mc, in yet another pathetic attempt to discredit you, instead showed us his own ignorance of the subject. Maybe he should stick to things he knows well, like misspelling words, and omitting punctuation in run on sentences that often make no sense at all...

It all makes me wonder where the DoubleGunShop Forum Manners, Civility, and Politeness Police are when you need them???