Heat Treatment Colour Chart

[John BurridgeParticipant @johnburridge26484]

I have just got home and opened the MEW magazine.

Lot to read and very interesting subjects.

I have got to the steel heat treatment chart and the colours and the temperature at that colour.

What would of been very useful is the different items that we heat treat and the colour that we need to take the temper to for given tools.

This can be looked up in machinery's hand book or Tom D Walshaws (Tubal Cain) book in the workshop Practice Series No1 book but would of been very good if included on the colour chart which we could all cut out and laminate and have in our workshops.

What do other think?

[John BurridgeParticipant @johnburridge26484]

Items to be heat treated and the treatment temperture required

[JohnFParticipant @johnf59703]

Two points laminating might alter the colours, not sure but you would need to be careful

Second point and most important THE COLOURS MUST BE OBSERVED IN DAYLIGHT, failure to do this will give a false reading, Subdued but good daylight is the best, not strong sunlight the colours are too difficult to see.

All artificial light has differing colour temperatures and will alter the colour on your work—-don't let anyone try to convince you otherwise I have been tempering small steel parts for many years and to my cost have found this to be very true.

Closure chart is very good though.

John

[michael howarth 1Participant @michaelhowarth1]

Even given possible problems in colour reproduction or lamination, a colour chart would still be more accurate than the descriptive written word. Differences between yellow/light yellow/ straw or light cherry/cherry/dark cherry are difficult to describe and convey accurately. I have just Googled "tempering colours" – "images" and there are some good charts there that I shall be downloading and laminating. Thanks for the idea.

Mick

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

I've still got my metalwork exercise book from school when I was 15-16. First page is a chart we had to draw out with hardnesses and the likely things that would be hardened to these levels.

J

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

I made the chart some time ago using Corel Draw – it seemed a good way to fill what was an awkward half-page gap.

You can create a gradient between an arbitrary number of colours spaced as required. Obviously matching screen colours to real ones was challenging enough, and then you have to allow for several steps of re-rendering… so what is below may or may not be any use to anybody who hasn't got access to the magazine.

Neil

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Posted by John Burridge on 23/09/2014 21:14:09:

What would of been very useful is the different items that we heat treat and the colour that we need to take the temper to for given tools.

… but would of been very good if included on the colour chart

What do other think?

.

John,

I agree completely

I have taken the liberty of editing your post, to draw attention to the main point.

… I hope tht's O.K.

MichaelG.

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

That's the next filler article

Neil

[mickParticipant @mick65121]

When God was a boy we use to harden tool steel with a blow tourch in a hearth, but to better gauge the exact point to quench the steel we turned the light out. Amazing the difference between cherry and bright red that makes.

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

They do say the the way to heat treat the perfect sword is to heat it to match the colour of the setting sun.

I don't recommend testing your lathe tools by attempting to cut a peasant in half with one stroke.

Neil

Edited By Neil Wyatt on 24/09/2014 21:05:25

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