52100 Quenching Question

Carterwhopkins

Carterwhopkins

Joined
Dec 12, 2012
Messages
238
I was heat treating and tempering some kitchen knife blades today. Early I did HT on a couple of blades, quenched in 130F canola and then did the first tempering session this afternoon and quenched in water as my normal routine. I then did a second HT session with 3 kitchen knives and quenched in 130F canola, but then I saw my water bucket sitting there....so I shortened the canola quench and put the blades in the water while cooled down a bunch by the oil but still hot enough to fizz (not sure that's the right description) when they hit the water....so the question is, do you think the hardness will be any different than the normal oil quench. They feel the same, no bad noises, no warping.

Thanks,

Carter
 
The steel hardens when it goes from about 1400, to 900f. That’s called “beating the nose”. Once below 900f, as long as you got there faster than the minimum requirement, cooling faster at lower temps won’t give you any increased hardness.
 
Thanks guys, that was my thought and hope...I saw the water bucket and couldn't resist...then thought I'd be better off to do all 3 blades the same way so I least I had a larger sampling for any increased or decreased benefit and discovery. Do wish I hadn't done it though...the water bucket is from my grinder...it now has a nice oil slick on top....guess I'll have to give it a scrubbing tomorrow.
 
I was all ears listening for bad noises....didn't hear anything...guess I won't know until after tempering and cleaning up the blades.
 
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