Hardening Steel

At a glance..

This book features boring tough automobile spring leaf with ordinary carbon drill after it has been case-hardened in a home workshop.

The details..

In this book, Albert A. Brandt teaches readers how to use a non-poisonous alloy powder called Hi-Speed-It to harden steel and iron in their home workshops without requiring any special equipment other than a gas ring or Bunsen burner. The process involves heating the object until it reaches cherry-red color (between 1,400 and 1,700F), dipping it into the powder for around 15-30 seconds before reheating it again and quenching quickly in brine or clean cold water.

The same procedure can be followed to case-harden cold-rolled or machine steel with greater depth of hardness achieved through repeated fusing and dipping into the alloy powder before quenching. When case-hardening high-carbon steel, excess coating should be removed thoroughly after brushing with wire brush or emery stick before reheating at cherry red color.

Brandt also shares that even an ordinary nail can be hardened through this process so that it can drive through cold steel plate while chisels can be made out of ordinary bolts or cold-rolled rods. Carbon-drills are given sufficient hardness so they will shear through automobile spring leafs blue spring steels among others.

This guide is perfect for those interested in learning about metallurgy from scratch as well as experienced metalworkers looking for new techniques on how to make their tools more efficient.