A.A.Brown & Sons Processes - Colour Case Hardening

A video about the process of colour case hardening at A.A.Brown & Sons gunmakers.

[@24934637]

Is there really any point in de-greasing and ultrasonically cleaning if you are then going to get a load of finger grease on the parts? Possibly better results by wearing latex gloves?

[@HD-ph1dc]

I love the video, but after you run them through the ultrasonic cleaner, you handle the parts to pack them.Does that effect anything?

[@usnchief1339]

I would so no since the end results looked great.

[@georgegooding8207]

You really shouldn't be using bare hands to handle the degreased parts. It kind of defeats the purpose .

[@davefellhoelter1343]

Love watching "Smart" old dudes work! I Pray and Hope to BE One some day! I am going to give this a try! WELL DONE Good Sir. My Charcoal will come from my soured mass, my bone from my hens, maybe some blue stone in my mix. I will try some H2O2 and an air pump in my quench? Life is an experiment!

[@aceelectriccompany1181]

I would like to to buy you a pint at your local.

[@kooga5538]

Many thanks for taking the effort to make this video Mr Brown.

[@mrberlinmethod1492]

The only sad thing about this video is that this kind of craftmanship is so rare unlike 100-150 years ago when basically any gun at any procepoint could be had with color case hardened.....

[@christopherskipp1525]

Are you sure about that, without having lived 150 years ago?

[@ericschulze5641]

Wouldn't it be better to just submerge the vessel, rather than dump it ? Keeping the carbon rich charcoal in direct contact with the metal , that also seems the more likely way it was done in days gone by, have you ever tried that ? & what were the results ?

[@Dwyer88]

Where are y’all located out of? Absolutely beautiful work

[@gavinroberts6456]

What temp are the heat cycles?…keen to try out on a knife finish

[@thethirdsealpatriot]

Beautiful work, but why are you touching the parts with your bare hands after all the effort in degreasing?

[@usnchief1339]

Helps achieve the nice color

[@453421abcdefg12345]

Excellent results! Although you would probably have like a few more red/brown colours in there, you will be doing St Ledger out of a job! You are using copper wire ? Have you thought of using soft black iron wire ? I would have thought the temperature would be near to the melting point of copper, if you hang a ring on your furnace tongs to hold the arms together , it will take a lot of load off you when carrying and manoeuvring the crucible, nice to see someone using proper forge tongs rather than the usual mole grips we see on here. Stay safe ! Chris B.

[@IHWKR]

I'm sure they've had a lifetime of perfecting their preferred outcomes.

[@453421abcdefg12345]

@@IHWKR I am sure they have, and handling the parts after degreasing did not appear to had any bad effect on the colours, which is surprising, you would normally see fingerprints on the hardened surface.

[@Rookheimer]

Can you make one in StatTrak?

[@haywoodchablomi8037]

Beautiful finish. Is there any advice you can give to avoid distortion?

[@christopherskipp1525]

Where is this?

[@NOLAART]

Personal opinion the engraving, which is beautiful, is distracted from by the case hardening, which by itself is also beautiful. But together, to me, they do not work.

[@tgsoutdoors]

Brilliant

[@paulbird3235]

These aren't just guns, they are a work of art using skills passed on from generation to generation. We can only hope small gunmakers such A.A.Brown will be in business for years to come. Best guns at value for money prices.

[@Raftjumper07]

Magnificent! Thank you for posting this video.

[@anditoba4096]

Does it the same hardening teknique with knife hardening? And Does it no need to tempering process...?

[@usnchief1339]

Beautiful results without all of the finicky stuff in other videos.

[@cliffchilders5820]

Beautiful work...man!!

[@simonsaorsa]

Marvellous, great that you are recording the process and your skill.

[@christopherskipp1525]

So is the steel still mushy on the inside after the case hardening process?

[@eliasknapp5391]

Yes

[@cliveyoung6425]

A fascinating video. You should make more showing the complete process of making the gun. I think it would make a good TV program.

[@manatoa1]

Wonderful work!

[@manatoa1]

It seems odd that the parts aren't brittle, given they're so hard. How can you get away with not tempering? I realize that you really can't temper them because you'd alter or lose the colours, but it still mystifies me.

[@453421abcdefg12345]

The simple reason is that only the outer .030" is glass hard, this gives the ideal condition of having a tough core, for strength, and a hard surface to resist wear, it is only when parts are very thin tat fracture due to brittle hardness can be a problem, a common use for the process is on the gear teeth in a vehicle gearbox, without a hard surface the gears would wear in a very short time, but they need to have high shear strength to take the full load of moving the vehicle, I hope this answers your query.

[@manatoa1]

@@453421abcdefg12345 thank-you very much! That makes perfect sense.

[@Mtbambeno]

To add to what 45321 said, you are not heating the metal up to its critical temperature so the base metal does not harden, only the carbon rich surface hardens. Gives a hard and strong outer surface with a softer malleable inner core.

[@davidcarstenpedersen1027]

Okay…. I know theres is a slim chance that this Will be answered. But here goes: Heat temp and time? How long and how hot? Charcoal to bone mix? How much? Yes I know it’s probably a trade secret but the trade will die if we don’t share. We’ve seen this with knife making that’s just taken of massively after we started sharing. But I do respect if no one will answer though :)

[@eliasknapp5391]

1 hour per 0,1mm hardness penetration, usually we do 2 hours. Most only use selfmade Leather coal. Works perfectly fine. Temperature should be low. Anywhere around 750°C to not have a lot of distortion

[@bavariasuhl]

you degrease and then handle them with your hands - seems redundant

[@mzmadmike]

That's a long way to carry hot metal through the shop, but I guess if that's where the oven is, there isn't much choice. The way I've seen it done is to invert the crucible to effect a tighter seal, and slide it out so the contents dump into the slack tub. It means less lifting, but requires a rail or tray.