Sear notch hardening

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I have a K 22 Outdoorsman I bought recently. Definitely NOT new in box but I like it. I was having light hits which I attributed to end shake and a modified mainspring.

I stretched the the yoke, which worked out well but also replaced the mainspring. New problem, it instantly developed a bad case of single action hammer push off.

I checked the hammer sear notch and discovered that another Bubba had proceeded me. There was almost no notch. So I recut the notch deeper (Fiskars scissors, if you must know) and straightened it out a good bit as it was not a straight or flat notch.

It works great now although I should probably cut it a bit deeper and redress the trigger. It's still very light at less than 2 lbs but fires every time and it doesn't push off, at least I haven't pushed on it hard enough for it to push off, and I pushed pretty good.

Well, I'm thinking any hardening is long gone from the notch and maybe the sear, although the trigger doesn't look to have been messed with as much. I don't want to replace either. So, I'm wondering if I can touch up the notch with Brownell's Surface Hardening Compound without trashing the hammer further by heating the whole thing. I like things the way they are now and I'd like to keep them that way longer. Thoughts?

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BROWNELLS SURFACE HARDENING COMPOUND | Brownells
 
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I would leave it as is. It will probably go forever that way. There is probably plenty of hardness still there.

If you're not a seasoned heat treater, especially with a torch, the results may not be what you are wanting. With the case hardening compound it's easy to get an area that small too hard and brittle. After hardening, you have to draw it back just enough to the right temper. It's doable, but touchy.
 
Check the surfaces with a sharp fine cut file.
If the file digs in and grabs on those surfaces in question & feels like it'd begin to cut if pushed across them,,then the case hardening has been cut through to the soft core of the part.
If the file just zings across the surface with out grabbing at all,,you still have a 'case' there.

No telling how thick the case hardeness is. But the original thickness can be anything from a couple 10/1000ths to several 1000ths of an inch.

Using surface hardening compounds like Casenite or CherryRed (which is what the Brownells stuff is I believe) can work.
But the amt of heat you have to apply and for how long will usually burn off any case hardening Colors that are left from the original process.

Trying to do just a small area like the sear edge of the hammer can be done as the hardening powder can be limited to application to that small area easily enough.
But you have to then reheat the spot red hot to allow the transfer of the carbon (or nitrate as in the newer stuff) into the steel for it to work. That's where the rest of the hammer gets heated up. Then you toss the entire part in the water to quench it for hardness.
Hopefully the old casehardening retains it's toughness on the rest of the hammers surface through the heating and then quench.
It usually does in an oven done case hardening technique. But you are using a torch here ,,usually OA, and you have to be very careful things don't get too hot which can happen very quickly on you.

Using any of these surface hardening powders will not get you any case Colors.,,just a medium to dark grey color to the steel.

Hopefully enough of the orig case hardening is still present and will give a lifetime of service yet.
 
Thanks for the responses.

I was hoping I could wrap the hammer in a damp cloth and then just quickly heat area with the notch. I was hoping that would just leave a small area between the damp rag and the heated area with annealed hardening. But I certainly defer to those that actually have knowledge and experience in such areas.

As previously mentioned, I recut the notch with the very sharp and surprisingly hard tip of my wife's brand new small Fiskars scissors. I had to press pretty hard with numerous repeated scrapes. Any actual shavings were pretty much invisible but I might have seen a couple. I got the impression that it was somewhat hard, certainly not soft steel but the notch had been seriously reduced by some previous Bubba. The notch is hard but definitely not hard like the face of a trim die.

I suppose I should try it for awhile although I might dry and recut the notch a bit more as it's still very small. My Fiskars method is very slow. I don't think the wife will notice as I'm just using the very tip. She shouldn't have left them out!
 
While you attempt the repairs you might also want to search out a replacement part or parts just in case your repair doesn't go as planned. Aside from which - it's not a bad thing to have a few back up parts!
 
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