I Need Parks #50!!

deker said:
And thus the gods spake to the humble newbies....though the word did not echo it, the message was "even we are not perfect...there is hope for you too"

:D

I am at once heartened and scared by the fact that the screw ups never end :)

-d
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I feel that you should have ended this prayer with a solemn "amen".....:)
 
Don Hanson III said:
Good looking blade, Matt.

I'm using less and less clay on my W2 blades, quenched in #50 and getting more active hamon.
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Thanks, Don! You have no idea how good that makes me feel, coming from you!



Back on topic, however... the question keeps arising as to how one should quench a blade in this stuff. As I understand it, over time you will wreck a perfectly good oil like Park's #50 by edge quenching, due to the addition of soot and other burning garbage that happens when you don't fully quench the blade (overlooking the obvious performance-hindering effects of NOT forming as much martensite has possible). Also, if what you're looking for is hamon, there it is... and as you say, Don, clay has never given me anything like this before -- and edge quenching does less still, beyond producing a weaker blade.
 
Thanks Matt, if you hadn't mentioned it I was going to. Edge quenching is fine for whatever liquid you happened to have laying around, but hot steel above the surface able to ignite any vapors forming will trash a good quench oil. I believe I am safe in saying that I have been using Parks #50 longer than most anybody here and I can tell you that the stuff will delight you if you take care of it. It should remain that crystal clear light amber color, if you burn it, oxidize it, fill it with crud etc... you are losing your investment. To those who would say "well my old tranny fluid can handle edge quenching!" I would reply that mediocrity is mediocrity whether it is pristine or black and goopy. If one is used to loads of fine pearlite a little soot and sludge will not change things all that much. #50 is one of the fastest quenches available without resorting to water, if you wish to keep it performing that way it needs to be kept clean.
 
Here's a shot of my 'magic pond':


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I put it on angle iron legs so that I could put a burner under it to heat it, but I've found that using a cheap electric heating element (like you can use for starting charcoal) stuffed in the top, and stirred with a paint mixing blade in my cordless drill does the trick with no open flame.

As Mr. Andersen posted above, though, I'll probably only heat it when it's cold out.
 
Qeustion for Kevin and the rest of you. When you fully quench, do you vertically quench the entire knife or do you leave the tang above the surface? I have been wrapping the tang in clay even on fully quenched blades so that I can work it afterwards.
 
I stick the whole knife in and agitate... I usually hold the knife by the handle using V-jaw tongs, plunge the whole knife and the jaws of the tongs in the quench, and 'cut' the oil with the blade to agitate (towards and away from me, with the edge directed toward me).
 
I had no idea that finding a commercially available vessel to use as a vertical quench tank would be so difficult. Everything is made of plastic nowadays. I ended up going to Home Depot and buying a 30 quart turkey fryer starter kit. At least with the #50, I will never have to fire up the propane burner here in Florida, but it is nice having a stand.:D It looks like it will have no trouble queching blades up to about 12 inches, but I may need to buy another gallon or two of #50 to totally fill it up.
 
jdm61 said:
Qeustion for Kevin and the rest of you. When you fully quench, do you vertically quench the entire knife or do you leave the tang above the surface? I have been wrapping the tang in clay even on fully quenched blades so that I can work it afterwards.
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Since I use the salts for austenitizing even my oil quenches any portion above the liquid line of the salts never gets hot enough to harden so I just fully quench everything. Whether it is vertical or horizontal depends on the blade's shape. Obviously anything double edged goes vertical, some wider blades can also be done that way, but most single edged blades go into a horizontal quench, spine first.
 
Kevin R. Cashen said:
Since I use the salts for austenitizing even my oil quenches any portion above the liquid line of the salts never gets hot enough to harden so I just fully quench everything. Whether it is vertical or horizontal depends on the blade's shape. Obviously anything double edged goes vertical, some wider blades can also be done that way, but most single edged blades go into a horizontal quench, spine first.
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Interesting....just the opposite of what I have been doing in the turkey roasting pan with Tough Quench. I have been quenching edge down. What is your reasoning for doing it spine down. Kevin?
 
The spine has much more thermal mass to overcome, it will take a bit more time for it to reach the same cooling rate as the edge so I prefer to give it a head start. This also evens out the cooling rates and expansion/contraction thus significantly reducing distortion for me. You will notice your natural termper lines like Matt's getting much closer to the spine when quenching this way. Many blades with simpel cross sections will want to curve into the edge when queched in oil edge down or point first (vertical) but I have almost eliminated this issue by going spine down (without any clay, mind you).
 
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