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Excellent feedback thanks. I can obtain this Cherry Red case hardening substance in Canada. http://www.rosemill.com/v/html/msds/cherry_howto.pdfMaybe I misinterpreted the procedure originally. It says to quench in oil & I’ve seen others do that. But as suggested, that rapid temperature drop via liquid quench is the problem to be avoided. Which I saw as essentially the same thing as O1. But now I see in the vendors it says “OR LET COOL” meaning no quench, just ambient cooling. I wonder, would ambient cooling yield something less hard, or similar hardness but less penetration, or...?
If I went this route with conventional round stock, would a certain alloy give me a better chance with case hardening? For example 4140 over 1018?
I guess in my thick skull I'm still wondering - if I'm going to heat steel up to cherry red for any of these material options (O1, A1, Steel X, Steel Y with hardening powder...), wouldn't it make sense to use the alloy that yields some increased hardness but with the least amount of quenching temperature reduction shock... which seems to be what air hardening steel is all about? Maybe I'm still missing something here?