First Water Quench Coming Up and..

David Stifle

David Stifle

Joined
Nov 20, 2008
Messages
10,188
I'm nervous. Never done it before, but anyway, I've got a couple of W2 blades forged and gound out and will be heat treating them in a few days.

I've made sure to leave to edge a little thick, and I'll heat the water to 130 degrees and temper at 500 degrees. Sure don't want to hear that "ping." Any hints on water quenching W2? Should I do a brine quench instead?

Why am I doing a water quench, you ask? Well, the first W2 blade I quenched folded like a banana. Seriously, no sori, no upward sweep. It just curved downward. So, a water quench. I'm not afraid!:eek:

Dave
 
You should do a fast oil instead. Save the water for drinking. Seriously. Even Transmission fluid would be better than risking ruining your hard work on water(the odds aren't with you, if you quench in water or brine).
 
I use a water quench on W2 and 1095. I do use brine heated to 130F. Just a few pointers have blade sanded to at least 320 grit. Have all sanding marks running from tang to tip (This includes edge and spine.) Quench at 1475F to 1550.(Don't break 1550F). Put blades in oven with edge down. Go into quench with blade horizonal. Do not go into quench point first. Cutting edge down, blade hoizonal, go in fast. I go in for a 3 count out for 2 count in for thre out for 2 in till cool. ( just cool enough to be able to handle with bare hands). Go straight into temper at 425 F for 1 hr. Let cool to room temp then temper again at 450F. These steps are what works for me. I never skip any of them on a water quench. Parks #50 quench oil works good too.(Less chance of cracking with parks.) Good luck and stay thin with the clay.
 
Sharpe pretty much nailed it. A thin wash of satanite will help the blade to quench evenly, clayed for hamon or no. It has a similar effect to brine quenching in that it breaks up the vapor barrier and helps prevent pockets of steam sticking to the blade, causing cracks or warps.

Randall Graham wrote a good bit of text about water quenching over at Don Dogg's site. But Sharpe covered most of that.

I just a had a water quench nightmare with a W2 cleaver. Uneven heating, I believe.
 
Just to clarify a point -
When we say "water quench" we really mean brine. Dissolve two pounds of rock salt in three gallons of water to make a 10% brine solution. One pound for 5%.
 
Thanks Guys,

I appreciate your tips. I really do need to get some park 50 oil. Glad I asked for advice here, you guys are a gold mine of info.

Dave
 
David,

You said your last blade folded up like a banana.... Could we(I) get more details? Did you normalize the blade after forging? What quenchant did you use etc...
It is mostly for my understanding as I have access to a decent selection of W2 and have drawn some kitchen knife designs that I will be doing....Also, I know the alloy contents vary in W2, do you know the specs on your batch? Don Hansen's?

I looked at your knife album and have to say I really like your style!
 
You know, I did a brine quench once on a file knife once. Damn hard, but it didn't break. And I did it cold too, just because I was curious. Then tempered it back. I was a novice back then, and I didn't temper it back, so the edge cracked when I played with it, but the grain structure inside looked decent.

But if you are really worried about it, you might try either an edge quench in brine with a regulator block or an edge quench in Goddard Goop (dirty transmission fluid, paraffin and bacon grease; get his books for exact proportions). Either will give you a good, hard edge. Just be sure to temper them back afterward.

Good luck!
 
Bill, thanks for that valuable info. Boy, learning never stops, does it? Brian, thanks for the nice words. Yes, I normalized after forging. The blade in question was W2 from Aldo Bruno. Clean stuff, and it works like butter. I quenched in vegetable oil and the minute I did so I felt something was wrong. The blade had simply bent downward slightly. I overstated the bend in my first post, it didn't bend like a banana and in fact I'm going to go ahead and finish it up (it's going to be a swordcane).

I'll be doing the Ht in the next few days, and (grin) I'm also sending a few to Peter's Ht. A little insurance against my inexperience in this area)

Thanks again, guys

Dave
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top