[TheForge] Mercury quench

[Paul Sperbeck]

One use of the drill bits so hardened was to drill the receivers of early
Springfield rifles to receive scope bases. The receivers of the
Springfield's were extremely hard and presented quite a problem when it came
to drilling and tapping. By using the mercury quenched drill bits and taps
the receivers could be drilled and tapped. If the taps broke, which was
likely given their great hardness, they would be easily broken out with a
prick punch and the operation would then continue with a fresh tap. The
action of the mercury is similar top that of the Gunter quench in that it
cools the steel more rapidly and obtains the maximum hardness that the alloy
is capable of. The drill and tap process was only used with CARBON steel
drills and taps as the alloy steel would become much to brittle to be of
use.

Paul C. Sperbeck
My Grandfather was a blacksmith,
and It didn't do me one damn bit of good...


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