Accidental snow quench experiment

[MSCantrell]

I was heat treating a couple blades outdoors tonight, and I dropped one. Dropped it in a snowbank.
I went after it with the tongs, and I had it back within two or three seconds, but by the time I got it, it was cool enough the snow was sticking instead of melting.

I started to put it back in the heat, but then I said to myself, you know, it got cold under three seconds. Maybe it hardened right?

It's a just-for-fun knife, forged from a Ford Taurus coil spring (I guess there's a recall on these springs because the coating comes off and they rust away?). So I'm tempering twice at 425 and I'm going to sharpen 'er up and see what comes of it. Maybe I'll get lucky and have hit the sweet spot on the quench. Have to do some cutting and see. If not.... I'll heat treat over again, and nothing's lost.

Should be fun! :thumbup:

 

[steelshaper]

Wow good luck! I would not be suprized if you find cracks.

Sometime last spring I was forging an integral from 5/8 round L-6. I was real close to being done and I dropped it into the water next to the forge. If you have ever wondered what L-6 looks like after it is dropped in water at forging temp let me tell you its not pretty.

 

[SteelSlaver]

I would think loose snow would be slower than water because it isn't complete contact. 5160 ? isn't really a fast steel. It might be OK. I would temper it and then side load it a couple times to see if it breaks from a quench crack. Good luck Jim

 

[Kevin R. Cashen]

Wow good luck! I would not be suprized if you find cracks.

Sometime last spring I was forging an integral from 5/8 round L-6. I was real close to being done and I dropped it into the water next to the forge. If you have ever wondered what L-6 looks like after it is dropped in water at forging temp let me tell you its not pretty.

Some manage to get L6 to survive a water quench through heavy under-soaking, resulting in minimal carbon in solution and lots of leftover bits. Which kind of begs the question... is it actually "hardened"? (quick normalizing may give a similar yet more homogeneous condition).

Since it is made mostly of air, snow is actually a really good insulator, not a conductor, I would be surprised if actual overall hardness is better than a slow oil. Think of really cold air interspersed with lots of steam pockets.