i read on here that the quench time for 1095 was 1/2 second.i'm 63 now, and i wasn't that quick in my prime.hells bells, i don't think billy the kid was that quick.is that time a little unrealistic?thanks for help, guys

1095 is all iron, carbon and manganese, and therefore very shallow hardening. Nothing much you can do, except look for some 0-1.

its true 1095 is 1/2 second and few take the steel to peak performance becuase of it IMHO. Try 5160 if you havent before, the nose is much longer and more forgiving so long as your not concerned with carbon or lack there of. Also 0-1 due the soak time i doubt most are getting the most out of that steel as well becuase most forges have a hard time soaking at temp. again just my thoughts

It's not impossible, just put your quench tank right next to the furnace or forge. Don't study it or fool with it , just dunk it !!

Most people gather the wrong ideas from the .5 second time given. There is a range while cooling that must be at least .5 seconds in order not to form pearlite in thicker portions of the blade. many folks are intimidated uneccesarily by 1095, which can be a fairly easy steel to get top performance blade out of if you do it correctly. Old moter oil and many improvised quenches will not have the speed necessarry to to do this, water may be a bit too much.

Put your quench tank next to your heat source and don't take too long looking at the pretty blade colors before quenching. Air is an excellent insulator, so while you will be slowly cooling, your quench will not start until you enter the liquid- that is when the race is on!

As the steel plunges down toward 1240F. it will begin to think about making a transformation, that transformation will be the softer structure of pearlite. If you can get it from 1250F. to 950F. in under .5 seconds it will not have enough time to make this transformation and the next stop will be 450F. where it will form the harden structure martensite.

So it is the quenchant that does the work, regardless of how fast or slow you are, this is why the proper quench medium is so much more important that most folks realize ;)

P.S. the temps given are general numbers off the top of my head, you may find more specific data on your particular steel

What Kevin said!

Just to clarify what's in Kevin's message. The .5 second thing isn't how fast you get it from the forge to the 950 degrees. It's how fast it gets from 1250 to 950.

Yes you need to get it from the forge to the quench fast. But really, that part of the process is needs to be no faster than any other steel. If you pull the steel out when it's 1250 it'll be too cool by the time it gets to the tank. If you pull it out at 1400 you have until it gets to 1250 get into the quench (well you shouldn't cut it that close, but I'm making a point).

Each steel has it's own temps. But when you see those charts they are not talking about the time from the forge to the quench (as I used to think). Rather they are talking about from one temp to the next in the quenchant to avoid pearlite.

Therefore, on 1095 you need a fast quenchant.

Do you need more time? Get the steel a tab bit hotter in the forge so it's still 1300 when it hits the quench.

(I hope I didn't confuse the issue.)

Steve

Just to add,

If you want top performance you don't want the steel any hotter than necessary (after normalizing). The reason for speed from fire to quench is so you don't have to heat the steel more than necessary - that applies to all steels.

Steve

much clearer in my mind,now.my thanks to all of you for your help.

So, would just a vegetable oil at 140 deg. do the trick as a quick quenchant? It is the same as I use for o-1. Also, how long a quench for 1080-1095? Thanks, Tony!

:confused: ... There is a range while cooling that must be at least .5 seconds in order not to form pearlite in thicker portions of the blade. ...

... Old moter oil and many improvised quenches will not have the speed necessarry to to do this, water may be a bit too much.

... it is the quenchant that does the work, regardless of how fast or slow you are, this is why the proper quench medium is so much more important that most folks realize ;) ...

O1 is a totally different alloy that will almost harden in air, it was designed to harden deeply with little effort.

Thanks from me also guys! This cleared up the issue I've had with this since the beginning. I always thought .5 secs from fire to quench. I should have known that I was reading something into it that made it overly complicated.