Brass Rail Repairs

[BobDavis88@AOL.COM]

In a message dated 3/21/99 8:21:40 AM Pacific Standard Time, foxpiano@juno.com
writes:

>   Annealing is merely the creating of a stress free condition
>  at the molecular level in a substance.  The opposite is tempering. 
>  Tempering is done by heating the subject material and purposely
>  introducing stress by cooling the material quickly.  

Hi, Dale,
I'll go with you on annealing, which puts a metal in its softest, most
workable state, but my understanding is that what you have described as
"tempering" is actually "hardening", which freezes the metal in a certain
crystalline state with almost opposite properties from annealing. Tempering is
re-heating the hardened metal part way to relieve certain stresses and re-
introduce certain desirable properties of workability and flexibility, with
the temperature carefully chosen for the requisite properties.

Same disclaimer applies, I'm not a metallurgist, but there's bound to be one
out there who will jump in.....

Bob Davis