Buying Steel Today ???

One way to get rid of the flames in an edge quench is to remove any of the three components of flame. Heat, Fuel, Oxygen. Now you can't get rid of the heat, and the fuel is the quench oil, so lets look at the oxygen.
You can do a full quench, and there will be no oxygen since the hot blade will be submerged. Pull it out while it is still too hot and it will burst into flames. Using a clay coating on the spine of the blade will give you a proper hamon and a hard edge - soft spine.
If you are set on edge quenching you either have to use a non flammable quenchant (non-flammable oil,water ,or a polymer) OR you can remove the oxygen from the hot blade and oil vapor. To do this you need a quench tank with sides at least six inches higher than the quenchant surface. A was tub with a couple inches of oil is perfect. Pre-heat the oil to 130F and while the blade is soaking in the kiln/forge fill the wash tub with CO2 from a fire extinguisher or by hanging a chunk of dry ice in an old sock over the side (not in the oil). If using the sock trick you can hang the sock in the tub a long time before you will be quenching, as the continuous sublimation of the dry ice will keep the tub full of CO2. With the CO2 in the tub, there will still be a lot of smoke, but there should be no flames. This trick works for regular quench tanks, too. Nitrogen will also work as well as CO2.
Stacy
 
i like Stacy's gas idea, argon would work too i think.

you could also do a clay coat.
 
well i think im going to be working with 5160 for a long time as i have ordered 20 4 foot long stlcks. looking for a good oil to quench in.is 10w30 going to be ok. when i use o1 i get it from www.flatground.com thay seam to have the best prices. thay also have clearence sales.
 
Used with shallow hardening steels ,such as 1095,a clay coat is done by applying a layer of "clay" (usually a refractory like satanite or refractory cement) on the spine and sides of the blade, leaving 1/4-3/8" of the edge exposed. This layer needs to be about 1/8 to 1/4" thick. As the blade is quenched the edge quickly passes the cooling nose at around 900F and converts into martensite, but the somewhat insulated spine retains its heat and misses the nose and ens up as fine pearlite. This creates a blade with a hard edge and a softer more durable body. The often stunning area of the transition is called the hamon. It is a mixture of troosite and martensite, and looks like a smoky line of clouds. Do a search on 'clay coating' and 'hamon' and you will find several photo tutorials.
Stacy
 
Wow. Thanks guys. I guess the easiest thing is to get into clay coating. I was just asking someone about that the other day.

Off to talk to Darren Ellis. Thanks!
 
Don Hanson III said:
Yep, edge quench will flame up.


Barkes, 59 to 62 Rc quenched in 10/30. Right out of the quench or after tempering??? You should get around 65 Rc before tempering, if you're not, then your oil ain't doing it's job.

A blade with higher hardness as quenched will be a much better blade than one that didn't reach as high a hardness. Same steels, same temper and same hardness after temper, the blade that was harder at quench will perform much better. This is the main reason to use to right quench oil for the chosen steel.
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Thanks Don for your post. That is exactly what is going on here. When I quench it does hardened the steel like you stated. The tempering process softens back the hardness of the steel. To achieved the readings as I do and the performance of my knives. That is why I use the oils I do. I played with the other oils and prefer to use what performs best.

I received a email from another knife maker this morning and wanted to know what is a color check. So, I will put in here. My color check is the color of my steel when it comes out of tempering. I like it to look Gold/ bronze in color. :thumbup:
 
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