I just wanted to ask a question to see what input I would get.

I purchased some supposed straight wheel weight alloy from a guy on feebay.
After getting the alloy and finding that some of it was contaminated with zinc I tried to get it all out with sawdust fluxing. I contacted the seller and he informed me that he throws in stick on WW's as well but they were mostly COWW. I figured when I was getting the zinc out I was most likely taking out some tin and antimony as well so I bhn tested it afterwards and it tests at around 10 so it seems that it is a few bhn below straight WW's.

I added 2% pewter for the tin and a little more antimony and it still comes out at 9.5 to 10 air cooled but when I water quench it comes out perfect at 20.1 bhn, just where I wanted it.

Does this make any sence? I didnt think that water quenching would double the bhn as it never did before!

My old alloy was made by me from COWW with 2% pewter and air cooled it was 11 to 12 bhn but water quenched it was closer to 18 to 19 bhn......

I am just baffled with how this is quenching, I am not complaining since I wanted it right at 20 and it now is but why is it doubling in bhn now?

Oh and I made sure that it is not brittle or soft, I put a boolit on the concrete and hit it pretty darn hard with a hammer and it barely smutched out a bit so it seems to be fine.

Thanks for any input,

Doc