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Guy at a hammer-in in Ohio told me to stop quenching in motor oil, and I finally tried it
Was at a hammer-in near Dayton back in March and an old smith named Ray watched me dunk a fresh 1084 blade in used motor oil. He just shook his head and said, "You're chasing a finish you can't see yet, try parks 50 and warm it to 130." I blew him off for weeks because the oil was free and I liked the dark look. Finally tested both on the same bar last weekend and the parks 50 blade skated a file way harder after tempering, no contest. Anyone else switch off oil and regret waiting so long, or is there a case for keeping it for certain steels?
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christopher40220d ago
Wait, did you park the parks 50 blade and the oil blade at the same temp before you tested them? Because that part matters a lot. Parks 50 is a fast quench oil made for stuff like 1084, so it pulls heat out way quicker than motor oil ever will, and with 1084 you need that speed to get full hardness. Motor oil can work, but a lot of the time it's too slow and you end up with a blade that's softer than you think, and you don't even know it until you test it. The other thing is motor oil has all kinds of additives and junk in it that can mess with the quench and the fumes are nasty. Where oil still makes sense is on steels that don't need a fast quench anyway, like some of the low hardenability ones, or if you're just doing it for the look. But for 1084 you made the right call switching.
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