[TheForge] A different needle question

[Bruce .]

Not a bad idea, except that the tempil crayon would "quench" the heat in
such a small mass -- and I don't know what effect that would have.  Had I
the tempil crayons handy, I'd give it a try.

Bruce
NJ


On Tue, Oct 22, 2013 at 4:17 PM, Bob <blcksmth at wcnet.org> wrote:

>     I don't have a solution for the heating process but could tempil
> sticks tell you when you have reached the desired temperature?
>
> Bob Willman
> The Eagle's Anvil
> Bowling Green, Ohio
> WB8NQW
>
> To the kindly influence of Christianity we owe that degree of civil
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> enjoys…Whenever the pillars of Christianity shall be overthrown,
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> Jedediah Morse
>
>
> On 10/21/2013 6:24 PM, Bruce . wrote:
>
>> ​I am altering the eye shape of a few commercial needles.  They're too
>> brittle to work without normalizing, but onc​
>> ​e normalized, they bend just fine.
>>
>> Now I need them hard again.  Well, dunking in water while at a red heat
>> works for that -- but leaves them more brittle than ever.
>>
>> A tempering operation (to purple or blue, probably) is quite easy on a
>> chisel, but even SEEING the colors on a needle is a challenge.  For one
>> thing, there's no good surface to polish.
>>
>> I've tried a couple methods, all without success -- my toaster over
>> doesn't
>> get hot enough, like, maybe 450 F, despite what the dial says.   (520 F =
>> purple, 540 F = blue, 590 F = peacock, according to one reference.)  I
>> tried heating an iron griddle to these temperatures and leaving the needle
>> on it for about 5 minutes -- no luck.
>>
>> I considered using a salt or solder bath, but find no appropriate salt and
>> that I'd need 80/20 to 85/15 lead/tin solder -- which is not readily
>> available -- to get a liquid bath of the right temperature.
>>
>> I'm considering a sand bath or a furnace, using a thermocouple to monitor
>> temperature, but as you can see, this is getting increasingly complicated
>> for what should be a rather simple task.
>>
>> Hence, I'm soliciting suggestions how to temper a needle.  Any notions?
>>
>> Bruce
>> NJ
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