Old timer at the shop changed my mind about using oil in the quench tank

I've always used water for quenching knives, thought oil was just for the fancy guys with expensive setups. Last Saturday, a retired smith named Dave came by and watched me dunk a blade, then said 'you're asking for cracks with that water, son.' He showed me his old beat-up bucket of canola oil he's been using for 30 years, no smokes or fires or nothing. I tried it on that same blade and it came out way smoother, no stress marks. Any of you use regular cooking oil for quenches or is that just a farm trick?

2 comments

2 Comments

jamiekim4d ago

Man, have I ever been guilty of overthinking things? I remember my first few blades I was so paranoid about getting the quench right I used ice water straight out of the fridge, thinking colder was better. Well, one of those blades came out looking like a map of the San Andreas fault, and I learned real quick that Dave knows his stuff. Now I just grab whatever cheap vegetable oil is on sale at the grocery store, and honestly, it works better than the fancy stuff I tried once. I figure if it's good enough to fry chicken in, it's good enough to keep my knives from shattering.

cameron4264d ago

@jamiekim I'm gonna respectfully disagree on the grocery store oil thing though. I tried canola once and it smoked so bad I thought my shop was on fire. Get a 5 gallon bucket of parks 50 and never look back, it's worth the cash. You ever had an oil fire ruin a blade?