The paper presents the results of studies aimed at justifying and developing the ways and means of cylindrical parts made of hardenable alloys surface hardening by heating of the electric arc between the inert electrode and the element. The shapes of electrode sharpening and the position of the electrode relative to the element are substantiated. The sequence of surface hardening operations is revealed and the critical rate of cooling is determined and its value is proved with numerical experiments. It was necessary to develop a program for calculating temperature fields in details, with a difference-differential scheme obtained from a combination of explicit and implicit schemes being developed for the first time. A number of investigations were conducted to determine the mechanical properties, the residual stresses, the fatigue resistance, the hardness and the microstructure of hardened layers. As a result, the surface hardening technology is recommended for reconditioning and manufacturing cylindrical machine elements.