quench question

[Barry Clodfelter]

I am a real newbie here so please bear with me while I try to get this/these questions out...

I keep reading about quench and then put immediately into the over for temper. I have tried to heat treat a hand full of blades that seem to come out pretty hard...read that as a file skates over them without biting. I am using veg oil to quench O1 and 1095 heated to about 120 degrees. It is taking around 8-10 minutes for the blade to cool enough to handle with my bare hands. The whole time I am standing there holding the blade in the oil with my tongs jigging it up and down and back and forth, never side to side. Is it necessary to keep the blade in the oil until cool enough to handle or just until it cools past the (not sure exactly what this point is called..the temp where it comes out of solution) then take it out of the oil and go do something else until it is cool enough to wipe the oil off and put in the oven?

 

[LRB]

How much oil is in your quench tank? I've never timed it, but I think I can handle the blade in 2 or 3 minutes, maybe less. After the steel temp drops below 450°, you can take it out of the tank. Maybe sooner. After about a minute, maybe less in the quench, I hand check the blade heat, then straighten if needed with a large rag as protection. The size of the blade vs the amount of oil may be your problem. I use five gal. of AAA for the 01. That allows me at least three blades before the oil over heats.

 

[Barry Clodfelter]

Ah the quantity of oil may be the problem. I am only using a gallon in an aluminum pan big enough to hold it with enough room left so it won't slosh out as I move it around the shop.

 

[LRB]

There you go. Use more oil.

 

[wnease]

lots more