I am working on my first knife, a little trout thing with a damascus blade. I think it's that thunder forged twist. Anyway, I was told to heat it cherry red and quench it in olive oil with sage as it leaves the least amount of scale.

I wonder if I could do it in canola oil instead or some other light vegetable oil? 16 bucks a bottle for olive oil seems to be an expensive thing to quench in. What do ya'll think?:confused:

You should be able to use good old vegetable oil, as far as I know! Just buy a big jug from the supermarket!

I agree with TikTock, regular vegetable oil should work fine.

Sage? Like the herb? That just seems silly to me.

Sage? Are you sure it isn't a fried turkey recipe?

I would urge you to do some searches here for quench information. And/or look around for a copy of The $50 Knife Shop.

The temperature isn't as good of an indicator of the proper temperature as a magnet. (At the right temp, carbon steel becomes non-magnetic.)

Heavier vegetable oils - olive, peanut, canola - are often used because they have decent heat transfer properties and they don't burn or char as easily as some others. (Also, the neighbors complain less than when you burn old transmission fluid.)

Still, this isn't just a slam-dunk job. Before you risk ruining that piece of steel, do some homework.

Tim
I fully agree with TexasJack shop around for some more info. As far as the sage that is a new one on me.
Regards Bob

Scale is the result of the heating atmosphere not the quench medium, the sage thing is so far off the wall I have to wonder if somebody isn't pulling your leg. Many folks use vegitable oils and they can produce some interesting aromas, but if I had to heat treat a blade in a pinch and did not have any actual quenching oil, I would get some automatic transmission fluid or some hydraulic fluid, both have pretty good thermal extraction rates and won't break your wallet at all. Heat extraction an low vapor forming is what you want in a quench.

Don't forget to edge pack before you heat treat though. (just kidding, I figured Kevin needed to get his feathers ruffled up a bit today :o)

I think I'll use the canola oil. A friend of mine is helping me do this the first time, Jim Small is his name, he does a lot of engraving.

He was going to temper it in his kiln and after reading what I have on this and the need to temper it not long after heat treating it I believe I'll wait till I see him again and do all the heating then in one day.

I know it's a simple thing to do but I want it done right the first time just for my own knowledge sake if nothing else. I love to learn and this is the first post I've made outside the fine embellishment forum. I must say that this is the best bunch of folks on the web anywhere. Everyone is open and free with information that they learned the hard way sometimes so the rest of us don't have to. Just superb human beings all around!:101

The guy that told me about that olive oil thing must have bought what they had at the Kroger store and it had clove in it. I guess it smells better heated maybe? That's what he uses anyway and he's the guy that sells the steel and it's in the instruction sheet that came with the damascus bar stock blank I bought.

I was gonna use ATF but I don't like that synthetic oil smell so I opted for the canola. Thanks for all the answers, just another reason why I love this place. I'll post a picture of it when it's finished and I engrave the bolsters. Kind regards, Tim Wells

Don't forget to edge pack before you heat treat though. (just kidding, I figured Kevin needed to get his feathers ruffled up a bit today :o)

My feathers have been ruffled so bare that I am about ready to take up edge packing with a rubber mallet. In my condition these days I could only hurt myself with a real metal headed hammer;) .