Quenchant for o1 that doesn't require heating?

T

Tin.Man

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Sep 5, 2010
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Pretty much like the title says. McMaster medium oil or parks aaa? Always thought I would go with canola but not thrilled to heat it. Not that hard but I'd rather avoid it if possible.
 
Why is heating a problem? Just keep a small block of steel around to throw in your kiln or forge, and quench that before you quench your O1. All quench oils have a recommended working temperature range, and most of them are above the average ambient temperature of shop. AAA recommends at least 100 degrees Fahrenheit if I'm remembering correctly, with a little warmer not necessarily being a bad thing.
 
knife to a gunfight said:
Parks 50 doesn't necessarily need to be heated, but isn't it a little fast for O1?
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By the book yes, but I quench all of my oil hardening in it without issue. IIRC Stacy and Don both do as well.

ETA: when I say everything I mean the following specifically, 1084, 1075, 80crv2, 52100, O1, along with the faster steels.

It makes life much simpler.
 
I have never cracked a blade quenching in Parks 50. I've even quenched S-7 in it when trying to figure out why I couldn't get it fully hard.

If we were talking about an O1 die block with thin webs and complex features I wouldn't bet on it, but knives I think it's no problem.
 
Park50 or any fast oil works for O1 or even 52100. O1 has pretty wide pearlite nose I think even room temp veg oil should work just fine.
 
in kitchen knife thickness i have always used parks 50 at room temp (the thought being that slightly cold P50 quenches slower anyhow over all due to less convection around the blade)
 
Yes, I use Parks #50 for most everything. I have a equivalent of AAA that I haven't pulled out in years. I do tin ad thick blades in many steels and have not cracked a blade. 1084 works fine n room temp #50.
 
I LOVE parks 50 for just about everything. I have AAA and it's a great oil but parks 50 is much more enjoyable to use.
 
If the quenchant is too fast, you could add unneeded stress to the blade. I've used DT-48 on medium speed steels without apparent problems, but it would be interesting to see the microstructures of the steels compared to medium speed oils.
 
We use parks for most everything but Ill confess I don't use it for O1 and we have had two 80crv2 blades crack from parks. Both had 3x kiln normalization cycles and were .040 on the edge to.Cracked at least one 52100 blade that I remember to but the parks was already a bit warm so it was really fast.. Probably just bad luck but it happened, though that's over years and many,many,many blades.
Sometimes I cant help but wonder, I know it isn't cracked but what happened inside I cant see with my naked eye?
 
kuraki said:
Were those forged knives that cracked Kentucky?
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One was forged I remember but one was stock removal. the 52100 one was stock removal to. Probably just bad luck..Some times no matter if you do everything right bad things happen.
 
Someone much smarter than me told me that a too fast quenchant can result in stress and/or undesirable structures in the steel. On the other hand, many makers use fast oil for everything with minimal or no reported problems. I have to say I honestly don't know. I do use medium speed oil for deeper hardening steels.
 
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