Annealing with gas: do you folks drop the cases into water?

[Campbell]

In order to prevent the heat travelling to the base of the case, I have been dropping the annealed cases into water.

 

[memilanuk]

Completely un-necessary waste of time and effort. Once you remove the case from the heat source i.e. the torch flame, it's not going to get any hotter. Yes the base of the case may get warm... but no-where near annealing temps, not even when you have a big tray of them sitting there air-cooling.

 

[Campbell]

Completely un-necessary waste of time and effort. Once you remove the case from the heat source i.e. the torch flame, it's not going to get any hotter. Yes the base of the case may get warm... but no-where near annealing temps, not even when you have a big tray of them sitting there air-cooling.

HI Milanuk

Many sincere thanks. I now know that I have been wasting a considerable amount of "waste of time and effort"

 

[Falfan2017]

With 6 br brass I can pick up the case at the bottom without burning my fingers meaning it's nowhere near hot enough to anneal. As soon as you remove it from heat it cools rapidly on its own.

 

[Marksman63]

In order to prevent the heat travelling to the base of the case, I have been dropping the annealed cases into water.

I put them on a wet towel to speed up the cooling process

 

[Preacher]

I place mine in a cast iron pan after pulling them out of the AMP to cool them down..

 

[4xforfun]

No. Air cool.

 

[spclark]

Brass sees no benefit from quenching as is common with iron-bearing alloys.

I used to use a torch & drill mounted socket for annealing, let cases fall into a 1/4”x1/4” steel wire sieve to cool. Bought a MRB annealer last year, sieve catches cases as they fall out. If I’m in a hurry I use a small camping fan to cool cases faster. Waiting for cases to dry out after washing is bad enough....

 

[Fotheringill]

Same theory for induction annealers. No need for water. If your bases are too hot to touch, you need a lot less heat to anneal the necks. Are you using Templaq to see the proper timing for annealing or are you getting the necks red hot?

 

[oldduc]

I use the salt bath method for annealing and drop the cases into a bucket of water when they come out of the salt. The water desolves the thin film of salt that may be on the case necks, and wouldn’t hurt anything in any case. Gary

 

[NorCalMikie]

No! Air cool!

 

[6MMsteve]

I quit dunking water and basketball, 5 minutes in air with fan, basketball legs gone Old lol

 

[Twicepop]

I used to work at a large metal forming company in the salvage and weld department. One of the things that the metallurgist told us was steel will soften when heated and allowed to air quench, brass was the opposite it would harden when air quenched.

 

[fguffey]

In order to prevent the heat travelling to the base of the case, I have been dropping the annealed cases into water

Before the internet: There was not as big a demand for attention as their is now and there was no way to be 'anonymous', except for the 'CB'.

Back then there was 'all you have to do etc.'. It was about that time I decided I would make an attempt at writing down rules for annealing, after deciding on a few I made a tool for annealing based on the rules. To most it would be an upside down version but to me the rules allowed for it.

And yes, a pan of water was involved but the heat travel problem was solved before the case hit the water.

F. Guffey

 

[Ccrider]

Same theory for induction annealers. No need for water. If your bases are too hot to touch, you need a lot less heat to anneal the necks. Are you using Templaq to see the proper timing for annealing or are you getting the necks red hot?

Really? I use templaq and don’t think I would want to hold the base of a 6ppc case while or right after annealing. Maybe I have tender fingers.

 

[AlNyhus]

I stand mine up in 1/2" of water, heat the necks to where I want them, then tip them over into the water. -Al

 

[Campbell]

Here's a paper from Damon Cali that you may find informative.

Joe

Hi Joe

Many thanks for your input.

Cam

 

[ricco1949]

Nope.... fall into a damp rag off of the annealer wheel. Rick

 

[riflewoman]

Well, dunking into water isn’t to harden it is to stop the grain growth process. If the annealing temperature is high enough to fully anneal (the critical temperature) recrystallization of the brass takes place. If the temperature remains high, the grains will grow in size and that can be as bad as workhardened brass. If the cases cool randomly you get inconsistent results. If you drop the case in water, this grain growth stops instantly.

 

[Campbell]

I love this forum: You guys really know your onions! Many thanks! (one day, us Limey's will kick your butts on the F/TR scores!

@ Joe R & Riflewoman

IMO, Joe is spot on. The article that Joe has given to us clearly states that at 700c no further material "grain" growth will occur, therefore quenching seems to be a waste of time.

Cam