At a recent meeting of the Master Blacksmiths' Association, Mr. George Lindsay, in discussing annealing of high speed steel, said he had been called upon to make a forging of this material at short notice and it occurred to him that, if the exclusion of air was the most important thing in the process, it would be well to try a lead bath. Accordingly, a piece of 4-in. pipe about 12 in. long was welded solid at one end to form the pot. which was tilled two-thirds full of lead. The lead and the pot were raised to a high temperature, the steel was placed in it and they were allowed to cool together. After it had cooled down to the melting point of lead, or about 630 deg. Fahr.. it was reheated sufficiently to remove the steel, which was then allowed to cool slowly. After this treatment it could be cut, in a lathe, like ordinary carbon steel. The suggestion is made as a convenient shop wrinkle.

The same speaker said that in hardening this peculiar metal it was necessary to forge it, lay it down to cool and then heat it again, but not far back from the cutting edge. Great care must be taken in the heating, notwithstanding the common opinion that it cannot be made too hot. Too rapid heating is apt to fuse the edges, so that they will become brittle and crumble. The steel should be given time to absorb the heat. Another danger in rapid heating is that the blast is apt to get through the coke of the fire and oxidize the edges. When the tool is removed from the fire the scale should be carefully removed and the air applied at the back, especially in the case of lathe tools. For milling cutters, taps, reamers and similar tools, where long and slow heating is required, a furnace is almost indispensable, though hollow fires may be made to do good work. An oil bath should be used for cooling, and the temper drawn as in carbon stee. ""Railway Gazette."