Thread: Color Case Hardening

The beautiful colors of case hardening come chemically from the individual various ingredients around the blade in an airtight container.
powdered coke, charcoal, bone, leather scraps, and other organics.
Pack the item in a airtight box with equal space around it filled with the organics and have a couple steam holes to be filled after steam stops.
Place it in a forge or kiln, or oven till the whole thing is the same shade of orange at the temperature you wanted and there appear no shadows or changes of color on the box.
The, after an hour to eight hours or more at the temperature, dump the contents into a large vat of salt water or oil at about 160ºF
If you are fortunate, a long item will not twist or break!
Much came from a couple experiments a few years back at a heat treating shop,. A lot of better information from Stan Shaw, "The last of the little messers"
~Richard