can conform to the shape of the casing 10 the casing 10 is inserted to a predetermined depth 32 within the granules 26 corresponding to portion of the casing 10 to be annealed a hardened portion 34 of the casing 10 corresponding to the portion of the casing 10 that must remain hardened is not inserted into the granules 26 and protrudes from the granules 26 after heating the casing 10 is removed allowing the granules 26 to fill in the hole left by the casing 10 in one aspect the casing 10 can be heated progressively as the mouth portion 16 of casing 10 contacts the fingers 38 in this configuration the mouth portion 16 of the casing 10 is first heated by the fingers 38 as soon as the mouth portion 16 contacts the fingers 38 as shown in fig3 and 4 the heat transfer element 24 can comprise a base 36 and a plurality of fingers 38 extending from the base 36 the fingers 38 are arranged in a tubular configuration to define a cavity 40 between the fingers 38 for receiving the mouth portion 16 of the casing 10 in one aspect the base 36 and the fingers 38 can comprise a.