Ok, so a bit back I failed in making a fork with some stainless dropouts (pricey ones!) was told not to heat them off and use them on the next one "just in case" even though it never made it past dull red as it's a fork and failures are costly. I have a mild steel crown (the henry james ) that went on a bit crooked (just visible enough to make me crazy) that I'm assuming I shouldn't re-use for the same reason. I also know folks do repairs and keep some of the original lugs, but don't have a good idea of where the line is on that.
This stuff got me thinking... there seem to be engineers and people with materials science backgrounds floating around here every now and again... anyone want to do a brief explanation of what's happening to the steel at different heats? I'm also curious about framebuilder's feelings on the risk of re-use of steel parts.
Icebreaker:
Metal color mild steel stainless heat treated risks Just shy of red Red Orange Yellow
Edit: this isn't a "tell me these things are OK to work with, I'll keep asking until you do" thread. I'm resigned to calling them good practice. I'm just curious about how to find the line and what's going on with those crazy steel molecules.
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