[blksmth]

Salt is a faster (hardens quicker) quench than water. Water is a faster quench than oil. That is a good chart posted by Marcb.

Typically a salt quench is only used on larger pieces of steel, primarily plain carbon water hardening steels. It could break small pieces as it would be too quick.

1095 is a water quench steel with a shallow hardening depth. If thin pieces (under 1/4") of 1095 are quenched they might break in water therefore oil might be a more prudent and slower quench for the thin pieces.

If you were making a hammer head out of 1095, you would want to quench in water to get as deep a hardness as possible and temper the eye and faces to an appropriate hardness (RC50 to RC55).

Note that in Marb's chart, moving fluid is a quicker quench that still water.