WEIRDEST quench you have ever heard of?

Traditional kukri quenching puzzles me the most. See the Himalayan Imports forum for the details. Basically they carefully pour a stream of cold water from a tea pot over the edge of the heated blade while the blade is held parallel to the ground.

What does this actually do to the steel (which is preferably Mercedes car springs)? I assume that some small fraction forms martensite, at least on one side of the edge...
 
How about Sea water mixed heavily with a borax Landry detergent. Thats what the Bolo knife maker I spent a weekend with used.
 
dlpierson said:
Traditional kukri quenching puzzles me the most. See the Himalayan Imports forum for the details. Basically they carefully pour a stream of cold water from a tea pot over the edge of the heated blade while the blade is held parallel to the ground.

What does this actually do to the steel (which is preferably Mercedes car springs)? I assume that some small fraction forms martensite, at least on one side of the edge...
Click to expand...

This confuses me too. I was sure that if you poured cold water on one side of the blade, it would crack- or form stresses that lead to breaking from use. Let me say, that thats not how I would heat treat 5160!
 
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