It is no coincidence that what is in the charcoal and the quench effects the colors. You can carburize steel in pure carbon, and vary the final color exactingly by temp at quench.
I posted that metallurgy class link in the past. Each 50 degree difference, different color blue.
Hint: When a hobbyist is reverse engineering a master's colors, look at that video for reference.
And then there are what are known as polymorphs.
They explain some of Dr Gaddy's observations.
Same chemical formula, same atoms, just stuck together in different forms. And held there at quench by cooling. And they look different. There are thousands of Iron/Oxygen polymorphs. Image a mirror image . That's a simple polymorph.
A poor example might be taffy. Look at all the shapes it can take if you freeze it, but when all is said and done, it's still taffy. That's why you can sample various pieces of case coloring and get Iron, Oxygen, Potassium, Magnesium, in the same approximate ratios. But the scratchings you were testing would still look different.-
These polymorphs may look like a twisted birdcage at quench. And light, when shone upon it, will be absorbed into the wires of the cage, and reflect as other colors. And various impurities can be lodged/captured within the twisted structures.
The wires of the birdcages can be represented mathmatically by Vectors, as they have a strength, and direction. But that's an area of science not needed at the moment.
The wires of the bird cage absorb energy. They resonate. They stretch, pull, bend etc. Their captured impurities introducing additional stresses.
And right about here, we start touching on Quantum mechanics, and what exactly is going on when those molecules absorb energy.
I liken the web of compounds creating the surface colors to the truss work in a large domed stadium or arena. Each connecting link supported by, and tied into each of it's neighbors. FWIW.
Sometimes when I'm out in the weeds like this, I wonder if Oscar ever pondered the same stuff, and kept it to himself, because, well, they'll hospitalize you for less.
So, where are we?
We have stacks of haybales that can be cleaved along planes.
We have weird shaped polymorphs that look different. But are chemically the same.
We have impurities that can be stuck in between the poorly fitting polymorphs, that look different. That we can manipulate.
We have polymorphs described as twisted bird cages, all stuck together like truss work. And probably happily desiring to attain an untwisted state of lower energy.
I guess, now, all we need is a way to manipulate the wires in the bird cages, or the bolts in the trusswork, to our satisfaction. See if we can cut them loose.
Again, if there's a P-Chem guy out there, jump in.
And remember, in practice, no one needs to believe any of this to do great work.
