Kasenit Unavailability and Bob Roller

[Bob Roller]

Jerrywh and the rest of the crew,thank you all for all the additional information.
Now that I have the real Kasenit I  am at peace with the world .
I am making only a few triggers each month now and Brenda's doctor appointments**
cut into the shop work more now.Also I am growing tired of shop work so after I
finish the 4 triggers I have names for I will do what Ross Dillion did and when I get
a few ready I will post them for whoever may be interested.This will apply to both
the Hawken and SMR/Ohio triggers.Also I have no plans to revive lock making and
am hoping someone will make a quality caplock of whatever style be it Hawken,Goulcher
or the fancier English Sporting/Target rifles types.
**She no longer drives so I am chauffer,
Bob Roller

[Craig Wilcox]

Bob, just to make sure she travels in style, get one of the older Packard or Rolls Royce phaetons with the glass divider separating chauffer from passenger.  I know you are very capable at maintaining one.  Maybe a Duesenberg?

So happy she is recovering well.

[flatsguide]

Dave, thanks for your efforts and sharing the results.
Richard

[smylee grouch]

PM sent your way Dave

[Bob Roller]

Bob, just to make sure she travels in style, get one of the older Packard or Rolls Royce phaetons with the glass divider separating chauffer from passenger.  I know you are very capable at maintaining one.  Maybe a Duesenberg?

So happy she is recovering well.

No Rolls,Packard or Duesenberg.Only our 1997 Lincoln Town car which is still in
very good condition.I bought it at an estate sale back in 2005 and can think of
no reason to be rid of it.I would buy another one if i could find a low mileage one,
Ours is the Executive series,whatever that means.The 1997's were the last of the big and roomy sedans
and the later ones are too heavy for that 4,6 litre engine and have less interior room.
Bob Roller

[Dphariss]

Jerry, you missed this sentence written earlier. “...Jim Chambers told me directly that his parts are cast from 8620. ”
Richard

I think his frizzens are 5160
Also note that IMO they are what ever the foundry makes them out of when they pour them. Personally I think the use of chromium alloys for frizzens is why I end up facing them with 1095 to get them to spark and I am not alone in this. Chromium does not make a good sparking steel. Nor does any additions of moly or vanadium. But they cast better that simple high carbon steels and apparently have less failures when quenched. I believe that making frizzens from 51xxx-52xx series is more for the convenience of the lock maker and not for best function. But thats just me.

[flatsguide]

Dphariss, thanks for that info. How are you fixing the 1095 to the frizzen and hardening it? Silver solder and a quench?
Thanks Richard

[rich pierce]

I think Kasenit and similar compounds are only good for hardening surfaces that rub against each other. Screws, bridles, tumblers, lock plates. No good for deep hardening needed on frizzens. There’s a lore out there that surface case hardening with Kasenit is the ticket for a frizzen that is too soft. Maybe it works for a minute or two. Maybe. There’s an article in the current Muzzle Blasts on it.

[wvcruffler]

Howdy all,

One of the bits about getting into this hobby that I’ve really enjoyed is the chemistry. I have a bunch of chemicals in the basement that I’ve done bluing experiments with, wood finishing experiments, and now case hardening. I have read this thread with great interest. I have a KG or so of Sodium Ferrocyanate and plan to try some different combinations to see what seems to work best. There is an article posted in this thread from a metallurgist who suggests “ one part of potassium ferrocyanide, one part of sodium chloride, and one-half part of rosin, powdered and intimately mixed”

Sound reasonable. I might add - my Original plan was Sodium Ferrocyanate, charcoal, and borax. I figure borax was the bubbly part you see with OG Kasenit. However now I’m not sure since a rosin could give a similar appearance. Well I have powdered rosin from the violin varnish experiments so I’m going to use my ball mill setup to mix sodium Ferrocyanate, Sodium Chloride, air float charcoal, rosin, and borax. TI have a bunch of A36 I can mess with. Then I’ll see if it can case harden a bit and to take it a bit further, I have a 50# bucket of chert from Flint Ridge in Ohio and I’ll see if I can get it to throw sparks. If anyone has a combo they’d like to see let me know. It’s going to be rainy today so time to mess around with the alchemy stuff.0