[modeleng] Re: Case hardening compound

Gents,

Bone dust will indeed case harden steel, but it must be sealed inside a 
piece of pipe or iron box with the object and held at a high temperature for 
quite some time. Leather charcoal will work as well under the same 
conditions.  The main advantage to Kasenit is the speed with which it works, 
minutes instead of maybe an hour.

Wrapping a gun frame with leather strips and then heat it as above will 
cause it to acquire that nice striped effect as seen on some older firearms 
such as shotguns.  The mottled effect seen on revolver frames from the 1830s 
to 1870s (maybe later)  is caused by heating the parts in bone dust, leather 
charcoal or something similar while it is sealed as mentioned above.  When 
the parts are red hot and have been for quite some time, they are dumped 
into a container of water that has air bubbling up through holes in a steel 
plate false bottom.  The uneven cooling causes the mottled appearance.

Patrick, I think Dunlap's book gives the above methods, but not 100% sure.

Jesse the REDNECK gunsmith.


MODEL ENGINEERING DISCUSSION LIST.

To UNSUBSCRIBE from this list, send a blank email to, 
modeleng-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word "unsubscribe" in the subject line.

Other related posts: