Oven’s good but temp. Regulation might be poor. .and thermometer rather than the ovens “knob ” markings..for tempering I have used temperature crayons in the past.. but all that said oven would still be better for stability than “blowtorch” and bricks. .good luck springs are challenging.

Hi Paul,

See the thread on salt baths, or if you want a safer life a deep fat fryer on 'high' should do the job.

Be warned though, for some reason my little bits of steel are seen as harmful to human health even if they are lying on top of or inside steel cockware…

Neil

Hello Paul ,

They must be enormous springs – the time for stress relief varies with the size of component and the rule of thumb is one hour for every inch of section .

Seriously – if your springs are the usual model sizes then a few minutes would be more appropriate .

Stress relief as such may not actually make any difference – it depends on how the spring was made in the first place and what steel was used . In most cases rapid hardening and then rapid tempering to blue is the best option and any further heating will cause degredation .

Remember that when quenching that its the temperature of the work at the instant that it hits quenching medium that counts . A lightweight component can lose all its heat almost instantly when taken away from heat source .

Best way to heat all small components for any heat treatment is to clamp them to a more substantial piece of similar material and heat and quench the lot together .

If normal steel material then colour of the more substantial piece will tell you temperature quite accurately .

Be aware of the problem of distortion when heating – a poorly made spring can change shape altogether when heated .

Regards ,

Michael Williams .

Re other oils…peanut/groundnut oil is reckoned to smoke less at higher temps. thus its use in stir fry. .just hope no nut allergy sufferers in household. ..