[Kevin Sevcik]

Update on my hardening results. First, my process:

Soak at 1450*F for 30 min.
Quench in a warm/hot brine. (Hot tap water + rock salt)
Temper at 900*F for 2 hours.

The carriers came out at RC 35. If I were making one more go at it, I'd probably keep the soak and quench the same and drop the temp to 800* - 850*. For the curious, the brine was to even out the quench action out of paranoia over warping or cracking. It was hot due to further cracking paranoia, but mostly to soften the quench somewhat to make sure the carriers weren't too hard. These were the only carriers we had, and I didn't want to botch them.