casehardening

[Prospector8083]

Could someone tell me what condition the metal parts need to be in if you were having them casehardened? Like what grit sandpaper would would be appropriate. Can you caseharden rear sights? How about a frizzen,does it have to be annealed?

[JPK]

The finish sanding will affect the brightness of the colors, your choice. I wouldn’t think a cased sight to be a good idea. I prefer to anneal any part before sanding to make it easier to do and I like the part soft before caseing. If the frizzen is of mild steel case may help but most modern ones are a high carbon so don’t case them.

[Acer Saccharum]

If you're going for color, the higher the polish, the brighter the colors.

If you only want a tough skin on the parts, then any finish will do.

[Rwnblack]

I take mine to 400 grit with worn emery cloth.  Seems to turn out well.

[Clint]

Most lock castings are made of 4160 or 5160 steel. Both would benefit from case hardening, especially frizzens. 40 series and 50 series steels are engineered for toughness and stress not specifically hardness. These steels also pour easily. Spice them up in a carbon pack and you will get a lot more sparks.

[David Rase]

I second Rwnblack's 400 grit.  Has worked well for me over the years.
David

[Prospector8083]

Thank you, planning on using 400 and not doing sight. I am planning on using Wyoming Armory and going for a nice colorful job. Is WA a good place to take it to?

[Bob Roller]

I have used worn 600 and then 4/0 polishing paper and used a thick pane of glass
as a support and a figure 8 movement on a flat surface like the side of a trigger.
If it wasn't for the words on the back of the paper it would be hard to tell which side
to use .I get some nice colors but I do have Kasenit and have never been happy
with the resullts from other compounds an am too lazy to go to extremes I won't get paid
for.
Bob Roller