Annealing copper head Gasket

[pancho]

I've always heated then until they're a pinky red and dunked them straight into cold water, that's the way I was taught during the coppersmithing part of my apprenticeship. I've never had a gasket go out of shape that I can recall.

I have not bothered to drop it into cold water 'cos if you have it a bit over hot  it can bend or wrinkle were the plies or multis hang on to it.
 My preferred method 'till now was to heat it on a steel plate and let it cool, that way it stays flat.

 I didn't know the trick about a cup of metho to five of water, sounds good!
  Cheers pancho.

[Andrew L]

How many times can you do it before the head gasket is nfg.

[micks]

" I didn't know the trick about a cup of metho to five of water, sounds good!"
  Cheers pancho.
yer pancho it`s one cup of metho to five of orange juice for me

[kim80y]

 I have not bothered to drop it into cold water 'cos if you have it a bit over hot  it can bend or wrinkle were the plies or multis hang on to it.
 My preferred method 'till now was to heat it on a steel plate and let it cool, that way it stays flat.

 I didn't know the trick about a cup of metho to five of water, sounds good!
  Cheers pancho.
[/quote]

Geez, if you are quick enough with your hands it hardly even leaves a mark..harden up..LOL

Good solutions folks!!!

Cheers
Kim

[OverTheHill]

just hook a bit of wire & hold it up then circle round n round with the gas till cherry red then drop in a bucket of cold water, makes em soft then grease it on assembly & you'll never have a problem. Talking of grease, i [arc] welded the exhaust on my old farm 626 coupe--just replaced the front muffler with steam pipe & dribbled the weld from thick to thin, anyway, greased the double header pipe where it bolts to the manifold & a week later it still smells like Castrol R [like it]

[brent j]

How many times can you do it before the head gasket is nfg.

A copper gasket can be repeatedly annealed. They do compress a slight amount each time they are tightened down and do not return to the original thickness. Annealing them does not restore the thickness. There may be a limit to how many times they can be annealed but I think you'll find they will end up too thin before you reach that stage.

[chrisdespo]

Cherry red and quench in cold water. was the correct procedure when i did my trade. good to check the thickness against a new gasket if you have one, i always put on a new one if available. by the way you can aneal aluminium as well but dont try and heat it to cherry red just warm and cool the same way although i still think new is best if you can get one.

[Freakshow]

on the speedway bikes i just put the gasket on the stove, when it glows i grab the pliers and fling it into the sink with water in it.  did it the other day with the sc500 head gasket, smells like lasts night dirty dishes but came out soft and sealed like a bought one

[oldyzman]

Thanks for the advice gents, it worked out well...Cheers
Brett