MetalworkingFun Forum

The best race engine blocks are ones that have ran a life time in a road car
Totally stress free
John

Sunset Machine,, can you post any history on the planer? NEAT machine, and appears very old.

Best guess I have is that an 1865 planer made its way to Hills Yard in Washington - the largest railroad repair yard in the US during the period. Not much else manufacturing-wise going on in the area. I found it in nearby Moses Lake a little over a year ago. The shop manager said it was there when he started working there 25 years ago; he said that they never used it and were making room for new machines. It was on the side of the road waiting for the scrap truck when I spotted it. Seems to work fine.

But back to aging cast iron - wasn't it the Germans who discovered that several freeze-thaw cycles accomplished the same thing but faster than the outdoor aging process back in WWII? Pop it in and out of your freezer a few times.

(01-26-2013, 10:21 PM)Sunset Machine Wrote: [ -> ]But back to aging cast iron - wasn't it the Germans who discovered that several freeze-thaw cycles accomplished the same thing but faster than the outdoor aging process back in WWII? Pop it in and out of your freezer a few times.

I don't know about cast iron but apparently that works pretty well with stainless steel. I have a couple of Krieger match grade rifle barrels that went through cryogenic treatment twice. (Before and after machining.) There is no change in the point of impact going from a cold barrel to a hot one, so I'm a believer...

I don't think my home freezer is going to cut the mustard though.

(01-26-2013, 10:41 PM)Highpower Wrote: [ -> ]I don't think my home freezer is going to cut the mustard though.

Send it up to Ed and have him go through several cycles of putting it in his back yard, bringing it back into the house. At the temps he's suffering through, that should do it!

I do believe you are right Ken!

Send it on up Willie. I'm ready.

Ed