May 6, 20206 yr By Steve Sells taken from the book Knifemaking 2.0 and the IFI archive Here are a few quenchants and their relative speeds Brine, 5-6 seconds Canola oil, 10-11 seconds Chevron Quenching oil 70, 10.5 seconds Citgo Quenching Oil 0510, 14.5 seconds Drasta 119S, 13-16 seconds Drasta 117S, 8-12 seconds Duratherm G, 11 seconds Duratherm Superquench 70, 10 seconds Gloc Quench A, 11 seconds Gulf Super Quench 70, 11 seconds Houghton G quench, 10-11 seconds Houghton K, 7-9 seconds HP Metaquench 39 14.6 seconds HP Metaquench 42 14.2 seconds HP Metaquench 43 12. seconds HP Metaquench 44 8.9 seconds McMaster quench all, 28 seconds McMaster quench fast, 11 seconds Parks 50, 7-9 seconds 280°F Parks AAA; 10-11 seconds 340°F The ideal quenchant is one that exhibits little or no vapor stage, a rapid nucleated boiling stage and a slow rate during convective cooling. This is why most experienced smiths advocate the use of commercial quenchants over used fryer oils. Quenchant speeds are a standard measurement based on the time it takes to cool a 7/8 inch (22mm) diameter nickel ball from 1625°F to 670°F (885°C to 355°C).
June 14, 20233 yr Thanks for this info Glenn. Do you have a reference for where this data came from? I know the commercial quenchants typically have that in their tech sheets, but I don't think I've seen it for the cooking oils before.
June 19, 20232 yr Interesting video on Knife Steel nerds on popular quenchants including canola and their hardening effects on some of the popular carbon steels.
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