Clapper, it's soft because you can just tell. The metal underneath is a dull grey and it's v easy to dent. Trust me...well I'll know when I try and color it for sure. But it is a dull grey.

I've actually just done another action. This time I wrapped in 0.002" thousands stainless steel foil. I also added some carbon charcoal to soak up any oxygen. It came out perfectly...annealed and dull grey and NO carbon....

Getting there PA24. I've got two old actioned..one already annealed...to try first.

T