Case hardening... make your own home brew compound?

[NortonDommi]

A perusal of a site like The Internet Archive,( https://archive.org/index.php ),can find some old books with various recipes. A not so old book below has a note on case hardening on pg. 49. Bone dust is cheap and readily available at garden shops. Some of the books from the 1800's might be better. Good topic, if you are permanently broke like me it is nice to know how things were done before the corner shop or on-line shopping on the internet besides the interest value of just knowing how to.

 

[NortonDommi]

Had a quick root around in my library files and found these two that may be of interest to somebody. The 1921 edition of Case Hardening of Steel has some updates over the 1914 edition.

 

[Shotgun]

Old thread, but has anyone here ever heard of using the contents of an old fire extinquisher for case hardening?

From what I can tell, the contents will be either sodium bicarbonate or ammonium phosphate. The bicarbonate would be an excellent carbon contributor. The ammonium would provide for nitrogen. And, phosphorous seems to be extremely beneficial, as long as you don't need to bend the part after treatment.

What Are the Ingredients in a Fire Extinguisher?

When a fire ignites, homeowners have little time to think beyond putting it out; the time...

homeguides.sfgate.com

Effect of Phosphorus on the Properties of Carbon Steels: Part One :: Total Materia Article

www.totalmateria.com

I've got a tub full of the contents I dump from some expired extinquishers. I plan to use the cases for aluminum melting crucibles, and haven't yet quite figured out how to dispose of the chemicals.