Part 433

«Blue.»—I.—Heat an iron bar to redness and lay it on a receptacle filled with water. On this bar place the objects to be blued, with the polished side up. As soon as the article has acquired the desired color cause it to fall quickly into the water. The pieces to be blued must always previously be polished with pumice stone or fine emery.

II.—For screws: Take an old watch barrel and drill as many holes into the head of it as the number of screws to be blued. Fill it about one-fourth full of brass or iron filings, put in the head, and then fit a wire long enough to bend over for a handle, into the arbor holes—head of the barrel upward. Brighten the heads of the screws, set them, point downward, into the holes already drilled, and expose the bottom of the barrel to the lamp, until the screws assume the color you wish.

III.—To blue gun-barrels, etc., dissolve 2 parts of crystallized chloride of iron; 2 parts solid chloride of antimony; 1 part gallic acid in 4 or 5 parts of water; apply with a small sponge, and let dry in the air. Repeat this two or three times, then wash with water, and dry. Rub with boiled linseed oil to deepen the shade. Repeat this until satisfied with the result.

IV.—The bluing of gun barrels is effected by heating evenly in a muffle until the desired blue color is raised, the barrel being first made clean and bright with emery cloth, leaving no marks of grease or dirt upon the metal when the bluing takes place, and then allow to cool in the air. It requires considerable experience to obtain an even clear blue.

«Brown.»—I.—The following recipe for browning is from the United States Ordnance Manual: Spirits of wine, 1 1⁠/⁠2 {683} ounces; tincture of iron, 1 1⁠/⁠2 ounces; corrosive sublimate, 1 1⁠/⁠2 ounces; sweet spirits of niter, 1 1⁠/⁠2 ounces; blue vitriol, 1 ounce; nitric acid, 3⁠/⁠4 ounce. Mix and dissolve in 1 quart of warm water and keep in a glass jar. Clean the barrel well with caustic soda water to remove grease or oil. Then clean the surface of all stains and marks with emery paper or cloth, so as to produce an even, bright surface for the acid to act upon, and one without finger marks. Stop the bore and vent with wooden plugs. Then apply the mixture to every part with a sponge or rag, and expose to the air for 24 hours, when the loose rust should be rubbed off with a steel scratch brush. Use the mixture and the scratch brush twice, and more if necessary, and finally wash in boiling water, dry quickly, and wipe with linseed oil or varnish with shellac.

II.—Apply four coats of the following solution, allowing each several hours to dry. Brush after each coat if necessary. After the last coat is dry, rub down hard.

Sulphate of copper 1 ounce Sweet spirits of niter 1 ounce Distilled water 1 pint

«Niello.»—This is a brightly polished metal, which is provided with a black or blue-black foundation by heating, is covered with a design by the use of a suitable matrix and then treated with hydrochloric acid in such a manner that only the black ground is attacked, the metal underneath remaining untouched. Next, the acid is rinsed off and the reserve is removed with suitable solvents. The parts of the metal bared by the acid may also be provided with a galvanic coating of silver or other metal.

Another method is to plunge the articles for a few minutes into a solution of oxalic acid and to clean them by passing them through alcohol. In this way the polish can even be brought back without the use of rouge or diamantine.

«Whitening or Blanching.»—If dissatisfied with the color acquired in tempering, dip the article into an acid bath, which whitens it, after which the bluing operation is repeated. This method is of great service, but it is important to remember always thoroughly to wash after the use of acid and then allow the object to remain for a few minutes in alcohol. Sulphuric acid does not whiten well, often leaving dark shades on the surface. Hydrochloric acid gives better results. Small pieces of steel are also whitened with a piece of pith moistened with dilute sulphuric acid, else the fine steel work, such as a watch hand, is fixed with lacquer on a plate and whitened by means of pith and polishing rouge, or a small stiff brush is charged with the same material. It is then detached by heating and cleaned in hot alcohol.

«TEMPERING STEEL.»

The best temperature at which to quench in the tempering of tool steel is the one just above the transformation point of the steel, and this temperature may be accurately determined in the following manner, without the use of a pyrometer. The pieces of steel are introduced successively at equal intervals of time into a muffle heated to a temperature a little above the transformation point of the steel. If, after a certain time, the pieces be taken out in the reverse order they will at first show progressively increasing degrees of brightness, these pieces being at the transformation point. When this point is passed the pieces again rapidly acquire a brightness superior to that of their neighbors, and should then be immediately quenched.

I.—Heat red hot and dip in an unguent made of mercury and the fat of bacon. This produces a remarkable degree of hardness and the steel preserves its tenacity and an elasticity which cannot be obtained by other means.

II.—Heat to the red white and thrust quickly into a stick of sealing wax. Leave it a second, and then change it to another place, and so continue until the metal is too cool to penetrate the wax. To pierce with drills hardened in this way, moisten them with essence of turpentine.

«To Temper Small Coil Springs and Tools.»—To temper small coil springs in a furnace burning wood the springs are exposed to the heat of the flame and are quenched in a composition of the following preparation: To a barrel of fish oil, 10 quarts of rosin and 12 quarts of tallow are added. If the springs tempered in this mixture break, more tallow is added, but if the break indicates brittleness of the steel rather than excessive hardness, a ball of yellow beeswax about 6 inches in diameter is added. The springs are drawn to a reddish purple by being placed on a frame having horizontally radiating arms like a star which is mounted on the end of a vertical rod. The springs are laid on the star and are lowered into a pot of melted lead, being held there for such time as is required to draw to the desired color.

It is well known that the addition of {684} certain soluble substances powerfully affects the action of tempering water. This action is strengthened if the heat-conducting power of the water is raised by means of these substances; it is retarded if this power is reduced, or the boiling point substantially lowered. The substance most frequently used for the purpose of increasing the heat-conducting power of tempering water is common salt. This is dissolved in varying proportions of weight, a saturated solution being generally used as a quenching mixture. The use of this solution is always advisable when tools of complicated shape, for which a considerable degree of hardness is necessary, are to be tempered in large quantities or in frequent succession. In using these cooling fluids, care must be taken that a sufficient quantity is added to the water to prevent any great rise of temperature when the tempering process is protracted. For this reason the largest possible vessels should be used, wide and shallow, rather than narrow and deep, vessels being selected. Carbonate of soda and sal ammoniac do not increase the tempering action to the same extent as common salt, and are therefore not so frequently employed, though they form excellent additions to tempering water in certain cases. Tools of very complicated construction, such as fraises, where the danger of fracture of superficial parts has always to be kept in view, can with advantage be tempered in a solution of soda or sal ammoniac. Acids increase the action of tempering water considerably, and to a far greater extent than common salt. They are added in quantities up to 2 per cent, and frequently in combination with salts. Organic acids (e. g., acetic or citric) have a milder action than mineral acids (e. g., hydrochloric, nitric, or sulphuric). Acidulous water is employed in tempering tools for which the utmost degree of hardness is necessary, such as instruments for cutting exceptionally hard objects, or when a sufficiently hard surface has to be given to a kind of steel not capable of much hardening. Alcohol lowers the boiling point of water, and causes so vigorous an evaporation when the water comes in contact with the red-hot metal, that the tempering is greatly retarded (in proportion to the amount of alcohol in the mixture). Water containing a large quantity of alcohol will not temper. Soap and soap suds will not temper steel; this property is made use of in the rapid cooling of steel for which a great degree of hardness is not desirable. When certain parts of completely tempered steel have to be rendered soft, these parts are heated to a red heat and then cooled in soap suds. This is done with the tangs of files, knives, swords, saws, etc. Soluble organic substances retard the tempering process in proportion to the quantity used, and thus lessen the effect of pure water. Such substances (e. g., milk, sour beer, etc.) are employed only to a limited extent.

«To Caseharden Locally.»—In casehardening certain articles it is sometimes necessary, or desirable, to leave spots or sections in the original soft uncarbonized condition while the remainder is carbonized and hardened. This may be effected by first covering the parts to be hardened with a protecting coat of japan, and allowing it to dry. Then put the piece in an electroplating bath and deposit a heavy coat of nickel over the parts not protected by the japan. The piece thus prepared may be treated in the usual manner in casehardening. The coat of nickel prevents the metal beneath being carbonized, so it does not harden when dipped in the bath.

A plating of copper answers the same purpose as nickel and is often used. A simpler plan, where the shape of the piece permits, is to protect it from the action of the carbonizing material with an iron pipe or plate closely fitted or luted with clay. Another scheme is to machine the parts wanted soft after carbonizing but before hardening. By this procedure the carbonized material is removed where the metal is desired soft, and when heated and dipped these parts do not harden.

«To Harden a Hammer.»—To avoid the danger of “checking” a hammer at the eye, heat the hammer to a good uniform hardening heat and then dip the small end almost up to the eye and cool as quickly as possible by moving about in the hardening bath; then dip the large end. To harden a hammer successfully by this method one must work quickly and cool the end dipped first enough to harden before the heat is lost on the other end. Draw the temper from the heat left about the eye. The result is a hammer hard only where it should be and free from “checks.”

«Hardening Steel Wire.»—Pass the steel wire through a lead bath heated to a temperature of 1,200° to 1,500° F. after it has previously been coated with a paste of chalk, so as to prevent the formation {685} of oxides. The wire is thus heated in a uniform manner and, according to whether it is desired hard or elastic, it is cooled in water or in oil.

«Hardening of Springs.»—A variety of steel must be chosen which is suitable for the production of springs, a very tough quality with about 0.8 per cent of carbon being probably the best. Any steel works of good reputation would no doubt recommend a certain kind of steel. In shaping a spring, forging and hammering should be avoided if possible. In forging, an uneven treatment can scarcely be avoided; one portion is worked more than the other, causing tensions which, especially in springs, must be guarded against. It is most advantageous if a material of the thickness and shape of the spring can be obtained, which, by bending and pressing through, is shaped into the desired spring. Since this also entails slight tension, a careful annealing is advisable, so as to prevent cracking or distorting in hardening. The annealing is best conducted with exclusion of the air, by placing the springs in a sheet-iron box provided with a cover, smearing all the joints well up with loam. The heating may be done in a muffled furnace; the box, with contents, is, not too slowly, heated to cherry red and then allowed to cool gradually, together with the stove. The springs must only be taken out when they have cooled off enough that they will give off no hissing sound when touched by water. In order to uniformly heat the springs for hardening, a muffle furnace is likewise employed, wherein they are heated to cherry-red heat. For cooling liquid, a mixture of oil, tallow, and petroleum is employed. A mass consisting of fish oil, tallow, and wax also renders good service, but one should see to it that there is a sufficient quantity of these cooling liquids, so that the springs may be moved about, same as when cooled in water, without causing an appreciable increase in the temperature of the liquid. In most cases too small a quantity of the liquid is responsible for the many failures in hardening. When the springs have cooled in the hardening liquid, they are taken out, dried off superficially, and the oil still adhering is burned off over a charcoal fire. This enables one to moderate the temper according to the duration of the burning off and to produce the desired elasticity. An even heating being of great importance in hardening springs, the electric current has of late been successfully employed for this purpose.

«To Temper a Tap.»—After the tap has been cut and finished heat it in a pair of tongs to a blood-red heat over a charcoal fire or the blue flame of a Bunsen burner or blow pipe, turning it around so that one point does not get heated before another. Have ready a pail of clean, cold water, into which a handful of common salt has been put. Stir the water in the pail so that a whirlpool is set up. Then plunge the tap, point first and vertically, into the vortex to cool. The turning of the tap during heating, as well as the swirl of the quenching water, prevents distortion. In tempering, the temper of the tap requires to be drawn to a light straw color, and this may be done as follows: Get a piece of cast-iron tube about 3 inches in diameter and heat it to a dull-red heat for about 4 inches of its length. Then hold the tap, with the tongs, up the center of the tube, meanwhile turning the tap around until the straw color appears all over it. Then dip the tap in the water, when it will be found perfectly hard. The depth of the color, whether light or dark straw, must be determined by the nature of the cast steel being used, which can be gained only from experience of the steel.

«Scissors Hardening.»—The united legs of the scissors are uniformly heated to a dark cherry red, extending from the point to the screw or rivet hole. This may be done in the naked fire, a feeble current of air being admitted until the steel commences to glow. Then the fire is left to itself and the scissor parts are drawn to and fro in the fire, until all the parts to be hardened show a uniform dark cherry red. The two legs are hardened together in water and then tempered purple red to violet.

The simultaneous heating, hardening, and tempering of the parts belonging together is necessary, so that the degree of heat is the same and the harder part does not cut the softer one.

In accordance with well-known rules, the immersion in the hardening bath should be done with the point first, slowly and vertically up to above the riveting hole.

«Hardening without Scaling.»—Articles made of tool steel and polished may be hardened without raising a scale, thereby destroying the polish, by the following method: Prepare equal parts in bulk of common salt and (fine) corn meal, well mixed. Dip the article to be hardened first into water, then into the mixture and place it carefully into the fire. When hot enough to melt the mixture, take from {686} the fire and dip or roll in the salt and meal, replace in the fire and bring to the required heat for hardening. Watch the piece closely and if any part of it shows signs of getting dry, sprinkle some of the mixture on it. The mixture, when exposed to heat, forms a flux over the surface of the steel which excludes the air and prevents oxidation, and when cooled in water or oil comes off easily, leaving the surface as smooth as before heating. Borax would possibly give the same result, but is sometimes difficult to remove when cold.

«Hardening with Glycerine.»—I.—The glycerine employed must be of the density of 1.08 to 1.26 taken at the temperature of 302° F. Its weight must be equal to about 6 times the weight of the pieces to be tempered. For hard temper add to the glycerine 1⁠/⁠4 to 4 per cent of sulphate of potash or of manganese, and for soft temper 1 to 10 per cent of chloride of manganese, or 1 to 4 per cent of chloride of potassium. The temperature of the tempering bath is varied according to the results desired.

II.—Glycerine, 8,000 parts, by weight; cooking salt, 500 parts, by weight; sal ammoniac, 100 parts, by weight; concentrated hydrochloric acid, 50 parts; and water, 10,000 parts, by weight. Into this liquid the steel, heated, for example, to a cherry red, is dipped. A reheating of the steel is not necessary.