Thanks Craig,

I'd heard that Stump Killer works, and I think I'm going to add the 10% Manganese Peroxide as per Oscar Gaddy. It appears to speed up the process. For a tempering bath, I agree having a pot that would maintain a consistent temp would be better.

I've been looking for a suitable smelting pot for the tempering bath that is controllable, then I realized I can use the same furnace (small kiln, digitally controlled) I'll be using for case coloring. It'll be easy to open the top and "shoot it" with the infrared thermometer.

Regards
Ken

I prefer wood to plastic, leather to nylon, waxed cotton to Gore-Tex, and split bamboo to graphite.