Question for the forgers regarding "fast" quenching oil

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godogs57

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Apr 16, 2004
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Had some terrible luck with a W2 blade last year...would not hold an edge worth a hoot. (had to resharpen 4x just to skin a deer...shaking my head in disbelief). Obviously it was something I did in the ht process...I can't blame the steel. I have been reading a lot lately on W2 and in an old article in Blade it said that W2 and 1095 are examples of steels that should be quenched in fast oil. I use Brownell's Tough Quench, which the article classed as not so fast. Park's 50 was mentioned as the quenching oil to use.

Any other suggestions for quenching oil? I have transmission fluid and Tough Quench and that's it. Perhaps that was my problem...perhaps not.

I know for those two steels I should move from forge to quench in a New York second if not sooner, which I did (albeit, with the Tough Quench @140 degrees). Tempered 3x at 400...

Thanks in advance for any help...much appreciated.
 
Parks 50 is what I use, I have had good luck (never used it on W2 but my best friend uses lots of w2 in the same oil), or you could try using canola oil that would work ok but not the best. stay clear from used car fluids to do the quench in there can be bad things for a blade and for you in them.

W2 and 1095 also need to be quenched from the oven to the oil very quickly, some other steels like O1 or 1084 are much more forgiving. also if you forged it you would also need to do some sort of grain refining.
hope this helps.
 
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It is a common misconception that when the heat treatment specs for a steel say 1.5secs or even less than a second, that it includes travel time from the kiln/forge to the quench. That is not the case. It is better to have a smooth controlled transfer than to frantically race to the oil. That 1.5sec countdown begins when the hot steel hits the oil. I'm not saying you have time to stop and tie your shoe or walk across the shop... but you have more time than you think.

There could be a few reasons why your W2 blade isn't giving you the performance you want. What was your heat source and what was your pre-HT regime? Ditch any thoughts of using ATF to quench in. Brony is right... that stuff is nasty. Stick with Brownell's... It might not be optimum for fast quench steels but it is consistent. Canola might be an option but again, inconsistent. W2 has a reputation of losing some of it's hardenability through excessive grain refinement cycles... might want to be aware of that, too.
 
Rick Marchand said:
It is a common misconception that when the heat treatment specs for a steel say 1.5secs or even less than a second, that it includes travel time from the kiln/forge to the quench. That is not the case. It is better to have a smooth controlled transfer than to frantically race to the oil. That 1.5sec countdown begins when the hot steel hits the oil. I'm not saying you have time to stop and tie your shoe or walk across the shop... but you have more time than you think.

There could be a few reasons why your W2 blade isn't giving you the performance you want. What was your heat source and what was your pre-HT regime? Ditch any thoughts of using ATF to quench in. Brony is right... that stuff is nasty. Stick with Brownell's... It might not be optimum for fast quench steels but it is consistent. Canola might be an option but again, inconsistent. W2 has a reputation of losing some of it's hardenability through excessive grain refinement cycles... might want to be aware of that, too.
Click to expand...

Thanks for clarifying that Rick. I did not know that W2 could be harmed by excessive thermal cycles. Give us all the details you can about how you did the heat treat.
 
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