Needed to case harden some parts today - first time in a while. Dug out my tub of 'Kasenite substitute' Dagarnite which I bought over a year ago at one of the shows - I think from Chronos but maybe not.
Now with genuine Kasenite you can heat the part to cherry red, dip it in the Kasenite tin, and when you pull it out the Kasenite will have fused round it and you can carry on with the torch to let the carbon be absorbed. So I did this without reading the label (as per normal ) and nothing stuck to the part . . humph ! In desperation while holding torch in one hand, tongs with part in second hand I used my third hand to pick up the pot and read the destructions. "fill container to 75% heat part put it in, carry on heating for 1/2 hour . . mmmm OK I got an acceptable result in the end using a tuna tin but not as convenient.
Now I remember someone commenting that in the absence of the right stuff sugar could be used at a pinch - it is after all mainly carbon and was used by WW2 POWs to make wire cutters hard - and thinks I - it goes sticky when hot! So I just tried an experiment, and mixed castor sugar with the Dagarnite and used it with the 'dip method' - it does actually work and now adheres to the red hot metal but is not as good as genuine Kasenite.
....so to the crux of the matter - who's got a few drums of the genuine stuff lying arround that I can liberate?
AWEM