November 30, 201015 yr G'day, i've made a dagger out of 1075 and 15N20 (first patern weld ) and would like to hear what you guys use to quench this combination. I've got old cooking oil or ALOT of old engine oil from trucks. The blade is 32mm wide, 6mm thick and about 250mm long. I've left 6mm of flat steel in the spine of the blade and the rest is bevelled. I thought it might be wise to ask first just incase, i dont want to ruin this one. What would you do? I promise pictures once its done too ;)
November 30, 201015 yr A lot of knifemakers swear by vegetable oil. High flash point motor oil should work too.
November 30, 201015 yr Parks #50. It is a fast oil that works very well for simple carbon steels. It will even work well on W1 and W2. veggie oil may work, but you will likely have some fine pearlite left in your blade. If I was to use an oil that was not made for heat treating, I would go with a straight mineral oil, the type you find in farm stores for treating cows.
December 1, 201015 yr Parks #50. It is a fast oil that works very well for simple carbon steels. It will even work well on W1 and W2. veggie oil may work, but you will likely have some fine pearlite left in your blade. If I was to use an oil that was not made for heat treating, I would go with a straight mineral oil, the type you find in farm stores for treating cows. Hi Ken i agree about the parks but i have to disagree with the other part mineral oil is not faster than veg. based oils. There was a test done a while ago this thread might be of interest. Bob http://forums.dfoggknives.com/index.php?showtopic=15856&st=0&p=147786&fromsearch=1&#entry147786
December 1, 201015 yr I use 3 parts 30w non-detergent motor oil (cheapest) to one part diesel fuel. Gene
December 1, 201015 yr I would second the fast quenching oil . I changed from a slower oil to a Uk available fast oil and am getting much better through hardness with this mix of steels .In slow oil blades would edge harden but not through harden , this makes for tough blades but they have a tendency towards bending especially longer blades......... also back up heating the oil to 70C as this will speed up the quench a little . I use this steel mix for swords (or the Uk equivilent 15n20 and cs70) and like it a lot. All the best owen
December 2, 201015 yr Robert, thanks for the link, that was very interesting. I had not seen a good experiment with vegetable oils before. I had recommended the mineral oil, as it is easy to get, and is consistent from year to year and batch to batch, and is more resistant to oxidizing. However, I don't think you could pay me to go back. I am much more happy using quenchants that I know match the steels I use.
December 3, 201015 yr Robert, thanks for the link, that was very interesting. I had not seen a good experiment with vegetable oils before. I had recommended the mineral oil, as it is easy to get, and is consistent from year to year and batch to batch, and is more resistant to oxidizing. However, I don't think you could pay me to go back. I am much more happy using quenchants that I know match the steels I use. I agree 100% i use houghton k and it works great for the steels i use. I just wanted to share the info with others, i used canola oil for years and it worked great but like yourself i would never go back. bob
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