Another semi lethal, yet useful shop tip.

[Three Hawks]

To make a twist drill hard enough to drill glass or hardened steel heat it red hot and quench in mercury.

It's a good idea to do this out of doors while wearing a respirator.  Even better, get the smart aleck know it all teen age block head down the street to do it.  Just tell him it can't be done.  

When drilling go slow and use a lube, kerosene's good.

Three Hawks

[Hank in WV]

Just curious. What does mercury do, that water or oil doesn't?

[Fletcher]

It has incredible mineral and lubrication qualities, conducts elctricity well, transfers heat well, and will make you Mad as a Hatter if you play with it long enough.

Probaly the case for some of those attorneys windwaler was talking about in his recnt just for laughs!

[Uncle Russ]

....and if ya spill some, you'll never be able to pick it up 'cause it always "runs" from ya!
:lol

As dangerous as it is, many old timers, myself included, played with it for many years, during our own formative years, and it was all without any noticeable ill effects.

At one time I had a half-pint jar full of the stuff. That little jar must have weighed an easy 10# and about every kid in El Paso County, at one time or another, dropped their "steel ball" in it as it was "supposed" to give better english for position while shooting marbles.....shooting marbles was a dead serious game back in the day.

It made pennies look like dimes and you could quite often fool the sweet old lady at the General Story and get a soda pop or "grapette" for all your cheating effort.

It also made horseshoe nails look like silver bullets when they were flattened and used as arrow heads.
With a quick dip, Lead round ball looked to be pure silver, and it was really cool to always have a few on hand in case you ever run into a Werewolf or three.

It also made old worn out knives look like brand new, and best of all it would wipe out a colony of fire ants, as well as a patch of Blackberry briars with less than a spoon full.....yep, this old Mad Hatter's stuff had many uses other than treating hats, and filling thermometers.

How did it do all this fun stuff?..... It was magic, of course.

Uncle Russ...

[R.M.]

Well Russ, that explains a lot.  

[rollingb]

Hey Russ,.... will that stuff get rid of skunks?

[Uncle Russ]

Geeesh, Bob

I figured everyone could see that the properties of Mercury involved in the hardening process could well be attributed to the fact that it is magic, pure magic.

:lol

Uncle Russ...

[Hank in WV]

Altough I didn't have quite as good of an imagination as you Russ, I too played with mercury as a kid. I still use it today in a manometer to sync. multi-carb engines to measure vacuum in inches of merc. I believe I also have about a 1/2 pint left. I was just wondering about the quenching process using it.

[Riley/MN]

...and it was all without any noticeable ill effects...

Umm, noticeable by whom??

 

[Uncle Russ]

Altough I didn't have quite as good of an imagination as you Russ, I too played with mercury as a kid. I still use it today in a manometer to sync. multi-carb engines to measure vacuum in inches of merc. I believe I also have about a 1/2 pint left. I was just wondering about the quenching process using it.

Hank, now don't you tell me you've never slain any dragons, saved any maidens in distress, fired "silver bullets" in your rifle gun, or saw any Werewolves while growing up.
 
In the early 1940's this country was full of such things! Big, Mean things, things that only a young boy with a good imagination could work out and over come.
:rotf

Maybe ol' 3-Hawks will enlighten us a bit on how this works when he gets back to this thread.

I am, and always have been, totally amazed at the reaction of some folks when Mercury or Lead is mentioned.
You would think it was the most venomous stuff ever created, causing instant death, blindness, and severe mental retardation that would affect generation upon generation of those who even glanced at it sideways....

I do not disagree with the Government Warnings that accompanies both Lead & Mercury. But I do disagree with the fear tactics that often come as a means of enforcement. But then, maybe it's necessary, I am not one to say.

I'm sure the cribs my kids had when they were babies were all painted with lead based paint. I'm sure breathing fumes from a lead pot when casting is detrimental to ones health, I am also sure that Mad Hatters Disease is very real and the Government had every right to step in with guide lines on the usage of Mercury.

The thing I do not agree with is their being so adamant  on it effecting everyone in the same way as their most extreme cases show...it just ain't that way.  

Although Mercury and Lead poison can come from the food we eat, the air we breathe, and the water we bathe in, it is all to often the shooter, caster, and mechanic or "smith" that carries the burden of blame....it just ain't that way.

Rant over!

(I hate to get started on subjects like this because I don't know when to quite....that's when laughter is truly the best medicine)

Uncle Russ...

[oomcurt]

He hee! I remember messing with old thermometers getting the mercury out. We also had a coal furnace back then, the neat thing was to get a bar of body solder..if you couldn't get that any solid core solder would do...we would melt the solder in the furnace in a can then pour it into a can or pail of cold water. Amazing the number of abstract shapes one could come up with. I kind of feel sorry for kids today, so many of the things we used to do are not allowed any longer....hack I doubt today those things are not even dreamed about by most parents of today's kids. Shucks.....

[Fletcher]

OK Russ, now that we are baring our souls and revealing our history.

When I was about 20, I took about 20 old mercury wetted relays that were supposed to have been HAZMAT'd and tore them apart.  I put the Mercury in a chemical jar.  (Still have some of it)

I then took some of my .41 Magnum Hollow point pistol rounds and carefully drilled a .25" hole into the hollow point just to the base of the bullet.  Then I filled the hole with Mercury just to the apex of the hole.  I then carefully soldered a 1/4" steel ball onto the top of the bullet sealing in the Mercury and provided a 'ram' for the hydraulics I was endeavoring.

(I did all this outside with good ventialation)

Then I took the pistol to an old farm field and took careful aim at an old wooden fence post about 15 yards away (about a foot from the top)  Looked around - aimed - fired........

The top of that fence post blew off like it had been set with C-4!

I had to try on a couple more - same Dramatic results.  Then I went hope quite proud of myself.

I will not say how many rounds I did this to, how many I may have left, or the address of that now toxic waste site.

If you do not hear from me again check with my wife and kids to see if men in black suits hauled me off.

[Gordon H.Kemp]

Using mercury as a hardening agent is certainly a new one on me. I wonder how much carbon has to be in the bit to work.
           My father always had a quater pint or so in the shop. If I'm not mistaken it was used when making babbit for main bearings and connecting rod  I think it was also used to find color when panning gold.

[Mike Ameling]

Funny how the government ... fear mongering ... about mecury doesn't extend to teeth fillings.  They are a combination of silver and mercury.  The dentist always calls it an ... amalgem, or something like that.   But they only talk about the SILVER part - never the mercury part.

So here dentists are putting mercury in you mouth - without the full cautious health studies to make sure none leaches out into your system - especially when in contact with some foods/liquids.

Yeah, I think I could still find my little bottle of ... quicksilver ... if I needed to.  Fun stuff to play with - especially when you "freeze" some.  

Ah, the little ... toys ... we used to play with.

Mikey - that grumpy ol' German blacksmith out in the Hinterlands

p.s. Who needs depleted uranium  rounds when you have a little mecury and some steel drillbits around?

[BEAVERMAN]

I got one for ya'll hear, know those new fancy squiggly low voltage lights that they want everyone to switch to in another year and dont throw light worth a crap? guess what gas the tubes are filled with? gonna have to have a hazmat team come clean up your house everytine someone breaks a bulb!!!!!! course the gov doesnt tell ya bout that!