Have any of you used NaOH or KOH for quenching low carbon steel? I just started with my very first 2 knives and used RR spikes to make them. I am going to use Gunter's lye water quench 3-5% which according to what I have read could possibly get the hardness to 40-43. Does anyone know if there was anything in his quench besides the lye?

You may know this but here is the formula for Super Quench http://www.cvbg.org/superquench.PDF OSHA force him to quit using a lye quench, this is what they came up with.

This thread will no doubt raise safety issues. I use a strait saturate solution and I get good results in both hardening and cleaning my bbq grills. I keep it in an old rocket box with a securely locking lid maybe 2'hx2'wx6''w, clearly marked DANGER/LYE and it stays outside. I believe common things that can be bought at places like Ace HW can be used by the great majority of the members here. If you're a klutz don't even think about it,but that might include nearly all metalworking processes....... ;)

Have any of you used NaOH or KOH for quenching low carbon steel? I just started with my very first 2 knives and used RR spikes to make them. I am going to use Gunter's lye water quench 3-5% which according to what I have read could possibly get the hardness to 40-43. Does anyone know if there was anything in his quench besides the lye?

Use the super quench or better yet, accept them for the novelty they are, or buy real blade steels.

About 20 years ago, I burned my lungs with the original superquench lye formula when I accidentally inhaled some steam - took a month to completely recuperate and I was younger and stronger then. Brine and Dawn soap will yield almost identical results so play it safe.

I worked some with lye at a conservation lab at the Museum of New Mexico. It was mixed in a thick walled, glass lab beaker about 20% lye by volume to 80% water. The mixture gets hot. I stirred it with a long, wooden spoon. I was very careful to work under a fume cabinet which had a fan-induced draft, and its flue led outside. FYI, if small iron and steel parts were submerged and zinc crystals sprinkled on top, superficial rust could be removed resulting in a nice matte gray finish. The pieces were rinsed thoroughly and coated with a clear form of microcrystaline wax.

Having said all that, I would go with a safer formula for a super quench, or better yet, get the proper tool steel in the first place.

i have mixed/used truck loads of sodium hydroxide in the drilling industry..i would recommend that you leave it alone! it's just not worth the risk for what you want to do with it. and when (in the right proportions) caustic and zinc produce cyanide gas, besides you risk chemical burns, lung/vapor probs, and heat from the chemical reaction. but if you insist on using it ALWAYS add caustic to H20 never the other way around

" and when (in the right proportions) caustic and zinc produce cyanide gas," In NFPA 491M Manual of Hazardous Chemical Reactions there is no reaction listed for either Sodium Hydroxide (Caustic Soda) or Potasium Hydroxide (Lye) and Zinc. I would be interested in how you arrived at that conclusion since neither zinc (Zn), Caustic Soda (NaOH) or Lye (KOH) contain cyanide. Zinc when in contact with either of these chemicals can evolve Hydrogen Gas which is flammable and explosive.

Yup no carbon in that to produce cyanide HCN /= NaOH/KOH + Zn (still holds true for potassium cynaide, etc.)