[OC] Ever wondered if those steel backups for crypto really work? I put one inside a ceramic furnace for 12 hours!
https://ift.tt/vIjwLDx
I run a small brand of stainless steel crypto backups and recently I put my most popular one inside a ceramic furnace for 12 hours straight, with a peak temperature of 1150 °C (2102 °F) which lasted 1 hour.
My backup works by converting each word of your seedphrase into its equivalent number using the BIP39 Standard, a static pool of 2048 words. Then you just grab a hammer or mallet and stamp the sequence of numbers into the plate.
Product: [https://cryptonumeris.com/products/plate-s](https://cryptonumeris.com/products/plate-s)
Original wordlist: [https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/blob/master/bip-0039/english.txt](https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/blob/master/bip-0039/english.txt)
So instead of shipping 27 alphabetical stamps I just ship 9 numerical stamps (6=9).
I use AISI 304 Stainless Steel (Gauge 14) which has a melting point of 1450 °C (2642 °F) so I knew it would not melt, this was rather intended to be an endurance test against high temperature for a long period of time.
[Fully stamped plate](https://ift.tt/pZoiunr)
[Macro shot of the stamped numbers](https://ift.tt/xCE0Xp3)
***
Anyway, so one of my dad’s friends runs a ceramics factory which manufactures Raku (his name is Juan), and he was kind enough to let me put one of my plates in one of the furnaces.
On **April 12 at 6:30 am the test had begun**, the furnace was on. Juan told me the peak temperature was gonna be reached at around 4:30 pm so I went to the factory at that time to photograph the live furnace and the thermostat.
Please note that the furnace was turned off at 6:00 pm but remained closed until the next morning at 9:00 am, an extra 15 hours which I do not have the graph for, but it’s safe to say it remained very hot inside the furnace for a good few hours after it was turned off.
[The live furnace](https://ift.tt/6ilsvqY)
[Peak temperature](https://ift.tt/BIJiFlD)
[Temperature graph](https://ift.tt/65ulVtb)
# The Aftermath
On **April 13 at 9:00 am the test had concluded**, the furnace was practically at ambient temperature. The first pic was taken by Juan when they first opened the furnace. I got really anxious because you can barely see any marks on the plates so for a moment I thought they were completely done. I arrived at 11:30 am to the factory only to be surprised by the results.
[First pic after opening the furnace](https://ift.tt/X3Z8tTH)
[Another pic after opening the furnace](https://ift.tt/aJgm1tx)
[Front and back](https://ift.tt/qWcBaNw)
[Close up](https://ift.tt/JkxFe4m)
[Macro shot of the stamped numbers](https://ift.tt/gqkzm4J)
# Result & Conclusions
The backup data was fully recovered, you can see all the numbers because the steel has almost all of its integrity even after being burned down for half a day.
After carefully reviewing both burned plates and the nature of this benchmark, I came to the conclusion that this test was a total success. I like that this ended up being an extreme endurance test that really shows the strength of the steel.
There’s no secret, if the furnace would have reached a temperature of 1450 °C (2642 **°**F) both plates would have melted and redeemed irrecoverable. But realistically speaking, in what scenario would these crazy temperatures be reached? The average house fire temperature oscillates between 600 °C and 800 °C (1100 **°**F – 1500 **°**F). [Source 1](https://ift.tt/OA7fwkl) [Source 2](https://ift.tt/RDVv7IG)
I do not claim to be an expert in house fires but I firmly believe that 12 hours of high temperature is a long amount of time and proves that this grade of steel is suitable for this kind of application.
I would love to hear everyone’s opinion on my test, was it good enough? I do believe it simulates a severe house fire. If you have any cool ideas for other benchmarks against steel share it in the comments!
Full article: [https://cryptonumeris.com/blogs/cryptonumeris/stress-test-1](https://cryptonumeris.com/blogs/cryptonumeris/stress-test-1)
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