[Joe Johnson]

Originally Posted by RaMoore

We did it three times to guarantee that we got hardening all the way to the core of the material. To harden the material further we would have to use higher temperatures and cool it faster and we felt this was unnecessary. Before hardening we were able to easily shave pieces of steel off the edges (using a pocket knife) and after the third quenching we could no longer shave large pieces of material off.

We didn’t temper the material following the third quenching because hardening the material to the point we would need to temper it is beyond our capabilities.

We will repeat the test with one of our unhardened carriers and post results soon.

Thanks for reminding me about the pocket knife test. I forgot that bit.

I am not a hardening expert by any stretch. From what I remembered from the one class I had that cover this, I thought that only the last one mattered. But I think I was mistaken. I will think some more about it and try to make a new hardened part tomorrow -- at least one will be using your 3rd time's the charm method.

Joe J.