AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |
Back to Blog
Quenching a railroad spike knife8/29/2023 It isn't fast enough for some carbon steels, so I use a combination of warm water for 1-3 seconds, then into a fast quench oil for those. It is handy for basic shop use as it hardens up to boot grease consistency when not in use, so it minimizes spillage, and can be hauled about for demos. I'm fond of Wayne's Goop Quench for many carbon steels, but not all of them. They cover when and why of different Quenchants. It can be done with your forge or torch, and tempering with your forge, torch, or home oven. Both have great sections on heat treatment from a home shop perspective that doesn't require an expensive heat treatment kiln and controller. They can be purchased on-line, or directly from Wayne. to get started with some confidence of a good outcome, I recommend Wayne Goddard's The $50.00 Knife Shop revised", and/or his "The Wonder Of Knifemaking 2nd Edition". that doesn't get too awfully technical, but gives enough info. for a beginning smith to assimilate when he/she just wants to make a couple of knives, or harden a punch. Quenching carbon steels for hardening is a pretty complex issue in it's most technical aspects. Having asked the question, if I have a bunch of vegetable oil, or a lot of tranny fluid, will that work? I understand quenching oil is an actual compound. The bottom line: if you want uniform and good results, choose one type of steel and systematically explore different quenching liquids and their initial temperatures and also find a way to standardize the quenching temperature of your steel. Quench a water-hardening steel in oil and it's likely to end up too soft. If you quench an air-hardenting steel piece in oil, it's likely to crack. If you quench in water, you're likely to crack a steel piece that requires slower cooling. Different oils provide different cooling rates. Motion of the steel through the liquid affects cooling rate. Initial temperature of the quenching liquid affects cooling rate. Additives like soap or salt in water can affect the cooling rate. Oil cools hot steel slower than water cools it. Different steels require different starting temperatures and different cooling rates. The quenching process involves cooling steel from its optimum quenching temperature (which varies between different alloys), down to room temperature (and sometimes down to cryogenic temperatures) at a certain rate.
0 Comments
Read More
Leave a Reply. |