anealing copper head gaskets?

[mach1alaska]

what procedures have you used to aneal copper head gaskets ??
mine are .120 thick if that matters

[jockorace]

Just pre-heat the little womans oven to 400 degrees, clean em up, cook em fo a 1/2 hour or so. Been doing that for years. Jocko

[Fiat48]

http://www.steamengine.com.au/ic/faq/annealing-copper.html
http://www.britbike.com/ubb/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=11;t=002278;p=1
Some people quench in water and some don't.

[spectras only]

The head gaskets for my vintage bikes are around a 0.100 . Every time I pull heads off for service ,I anneal it by heating it up with a propane torch and quench in cold water. All my buddies with old bikes do the same :idea: and it works.

[Unchained]

Hmmm.
I never did anything to them before reuse except for wire brushing the old silicone sealer off.
Never had a problem either.
I only have been reusing them for about 4 times before replacement.
I mark them to be sure they go back on the same bank.
The top of the cylinder sleeve is raised up .005 above the deck and it has embedded itself and the o ring groove right into the gasket.

[Fiat48]

The way I monitor them is leak test. When they start creeping between cylinders slightly then I either have to replace them or anneal them. About 3 or 4 times reusing and they start creeping cylinder to cylinder is usually what happens to me.