a couple of newbie questions

[J.Marsillo]

i'm trying to not post so many questions so here are a few at once i'm a little lost on some things.
Normailzing... bring to nonmagnetic and let air cool to room temp. what if room temp is 20 degrees(my garage is not heated).

Tempering... i looked up tempering for cable (1084?) on dan greys site BTW thanks for that! 400 deg. for one hour ok i fell asleep and the oven didnt shut off when the timer was supposed to.i had it on a peice of kiln shelf to try to keep the temp from fluctuating but it was in the oven for 6 hours . the color was a deep bronze with peacock spots on the thin spots. according to the oxidation color chart peacock is too hot around 540? do i have to go through with the HT all over again.

Wrought iron...i found a peice of wrought iron from an old cemetary gate we fixed up last year.cut halfway through and bent the grain looked stringy kinda like beef jerky?? i forged out a peice for a gaurd do i i have to go about quenching any differntly or should i just let it normalize. also can i etch it in ferric just like cable?
Any help here would be a tremndous help thanks and have a happy new year

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

Room temperature is generally considered to be 70 degrees.It is not exact.In the case of steel once below 200 it is ready to dunk in the slack tub.
A six hour temper would not be a problem UNLESS the temperature got off a lot.The color can be deceiving.Test the edge with a file and by flexing on a brass rod.The bronze color sounds about right for a long soak at 400-425.If the edge is too soft,re-do the HT completely.
Wrought iron works just like mild steel and does not need quenching,except to cool it off.Ferric chloride is fine for WI.Use a dilute solution.,say 5 to 1.
Stacy

 

[J.Marsillo]

thanks. with all luck i can finish tomorrow and NOT enter it in the ugly blade contest.