Switched from water to oil quenching after a knife cracked in half

I was dead set on using water for everything because that's how my grandpa did it. Then I ruined a 1095 blade I spent 6 hours on when it cracked right down the middle during quench. That failure made me read up on heat treating and now I use canola oil heated to 130 degrees for high carbon steel. Has anyone else had a bad experience sticking to old methods too long?

3 comments

3 Comments

drew_west20d ago

Good lessons usually start with breaking something important.

kim_brown22d ago

Man, that grandpa wisdom is tough to shake. I did the same thing with an old file knife I forged, figured water was the only way because that's how the old timers did it. Cracked that sucker so bad it looked like a jigsaw puzzle piece. Switched to Parks 50 and it felt like cheating, but my blades stopped exploding on me. Sometimes you gotta admit grandpa was wrong and move on, lol.

nora_campbell6622d ago

Wait, @kim_brown, did you ever try heating the blade up first before quenching? I read somewhere that preheating the oil bath can slow the shock just enough to save a file blade.