MTFS

[Phil Rose]

>Phil Rose wrote:
>>  >Basically just heat the
>>  >washer until it is red hot, then cool it in a bucket of water.
>>
>>  Anneal it, yes, but do NOT "cool it in a bucket of water"!! Allow it
>>  to cool slowly--since the goal of annealing here is to eliminate any
>>  of the "extra" hardness it's acquired
>
>I'm no metallurgist, but this site (the first one I found) said the
>rate of cooling does not matter -- slow or fast works the same.
>
><http://www.steamengine.com.au/ic/faq/annealing-copper.html>
>
>Let the debate begin.

Kent has pointed out something of which I was (obviously) not aware: 
namely that--for copper--the rate of cooling is inconsequential. 
Hence it evidently works equally well to either cool down slowly 
(e.g., in air) or to quench in water.  So I stand corrected. 
Evidently copper, unlike steel, requires an enormous rate of cooling 
to actually harden--millions of degrees per second. The bottom line 
for the DIYer is that the procedure is very easy to do and nothing of 
a critical nature involved other than watching out for your fingers.

Phil
-- 

Phil Rose
Rochester, NY
mailto:pjrose at frontiernet.net