Jim Wilkins wrote:
On Sep 22, 10:48?am, Cydrome Leader wrote:
Jim Wilkins wrote:

This is the stove I anneal and heat-treat in. A piece of steel coated
in Ivory soap and left in overnight cleans up to a smooth grey with
little or no scale. I modified the stove by drilling some small holes

What's this soap process?

Ivory or other sodium stearate soap bakes into a coating that protects
hot steel to some extent. Another old formula I haven't tried is salt
and flour.

Interesting.

I've coated steel parts in ivory to keep them from rusting and didn't want
them oily. The metal darkens a bit, like well handled tool, but doens't
rust orange at all.