Timing between normalizing and quenching

[Chris Pariso]

Latticino - 

Funny enough, I use almost that exact same trick when roasting whole potatoes: put about a 1/2" layer of coarse kosher salt into a pan, preheat that in the oven, then lay your potatoes out in a single layer, pressing them down slightly into the salt. Same concept as the metal, it helps evenly distribute the heat, and prevent the heating element (usually on the bottom of ovens) from cooking the bottom faster than the top. Never thought to apply that to the tempering process, but it makes perfect sense. Thank you!

[ThomasPowers]

Common method in heat treating for old school machinists.  I remember it being mentioned in "Trustee from the Toolroom" Nevil Shute, 1960. (He was using it to temper colour little metal eggs he had turned.)

(a quiet story where a truly nice guy triumphs as he had helped so many people all over the world without regard to status or money that when he sets out to find his orphaned niece's inheritance every problem he runs into seems to turn up someone he has helped wanting to return the favour.   NS is probably best known for one of the earliest post nuclear war stories "On the Beach" )