Oil for Quench

[Tod]

I've been sending all my knives out for heat treat, but a friend gave me an old Thermolyne furnace so I thought I'd try heat treating some O-1. What oil should I use for the quence?

[Ray Rogers]

What ya got? I use hydraulic fluid, some people use automatic transmission fluid, others do it with used motor oil. I've also heard of using mineral oil, a parafin/ATF/lard mix, you name it and somebody has used it. Some work better for some steels than others but most any oil will work.

Of couse, if money is no object you can buy a professional quenching oil from Brownells, or Sheffield Knife supply, or maybe even your local mchine shop ...

[McAhron]

I prefere to use vegatable oil preheated to 140-150.it smells better.works fine and not made of chemicals that outgas when heated by red hot steel.:cool:

[Tod]

I was thinking about using olive oil. I've got a huge can of it from costco.

[T L Smith]

Canola oil works good and it has a very high flash point. You don't get as much smoke and flames if any.

T L

[DC KNIVES]

Tod, I use olive oil and have for close to 10 years. Works fine and smells good too. Mix up a borax solution with warm water and dip your blades in it and let dry before heating.It helps in removing some of the carbon scale which is minimal with olive oil anyway.Dave

[Tod]

I tried the canola oil (since its about 1/3 the cost of olive oil). Heated the blade to non-magnetic with a torch and plunged it in. The blade came away hard and with very little scale that cleaned up easily on the grinder. Into the oven for an hour at 425 and everything is looking good.

Of course, now I'm waiting for my trizact belts to show up so I can do final sanding before assembly.

[T L Smith]

Did you temper twice I always do a double temper.

T L