Another stupid spring question

[smallpatch]

I am building a matchlock lock. It has just one spring, to return the cock to the top position.
The springs are 6150. The Riffle Shoppe recommends a water quench, then bringing to blue/black and letting it cool on a piece of wood.
I am not very good at the whole metal color thing, and was wondering if I can do the lay it on top of a lead pot, melting the lead, then removing when it is liquid.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[bobw]

Dane,
I make quite a few springs from scratch using 1070 and 1080 steel.  After hardening I temper them back by burning off motor oil that covers them.  If you look up Kit Ravenshear’s book on making springs he does a good job of explaining it. But basically is all you do is put the spring in a small tin and just cover it with oil.  Then heating it from the bottom gets the oil boiling and it will ignite and start burning the oil.  I intermittently keep the heat under it to keep things moving along.  Burn most of the oil off and you are done.  Of course be careful doing this as the oil is very hot.  I have never had a spring fail using this method.  The book is Simplified V Springs by Kit Ravenshear and is available now on ebay.
Bob

[P.W.Berkuta]

I've done the color treatment , the oil treatment and the lead bath treatment -- for me the lead treatment worked the best. Bring the lead up to temp and check with a thermometer then place your spring in the lead (it will float) leave it there for 10 to 15 minutes then remove the spring and let cool. Clean off any cling-ons which should come off with a wire brush or wheel. You need to refer to the heat treatment chart for your particular spring steel for the lead bath temps.

[rich pierce]

If you smoke the spring before doing lead bath tempering, the lead won’t stick much at all.

[Bob Roller]

the watching the color change works for me and I used 1075.Whatever works with whatever you're using and comfortable with
is a good rule.The only stupid questions are the ones that are not asked.
Bob Roller

[Dennis Daigger]

I've been using my nitre bluing setup for spring tempering and seems to be working fine. Temp of 650-670 for about 15 minutes.
Dennis

[Scota4570]

I use my bullet casting pot and thermometer.  I want my odds of success to be maximized.  Making a spring form scratch takes me a while. 

Some folks with lots of experience use eyeball methods and get good results.