Recent content by Mike Krall

7 - 9 second oil for which steels? Scott McKenzie says Houghto-Quench "G" will through harden 1/4" 10xx and W1/W2. I can't tell you it does because I don't quench those steels at that thickness, but there is no way Scott is wrong about that. Years ago Kevin Cashen posted Park AAA at about...

And I just got a UPS-ground shipping quote from McMaster-Carr on 5gal. of "11 second" oil from their warehouse in New Jersey to Lander, Wyo. 82520 (that's west-central Wyoming... no way not over 2000mi.)... $25 Mike

I just got a reply to a question I asked Scott McKenzie of Houghton International. Scott verified my memory, that McMaster-Carr "11 second" quench oil is very, very much like Houghto-quench "G" / Houghto-quench 3430... without saying that is exactly what it is. My belief is, if I wanted...

TW, I didn't realize Acculube distributed Park Metallurgy oils. Did Mark Zimmer give you a list of other Park Oils Acculube has available? I dug back into my saved links for info on Houghton quench oils... this link from SFI...

Medium, TW... Medium is like Houghto-quench "G" and Parks AAA. It may be that McMaster-Carr's "11 second" oil is a Houghton oil nearly identical to "G". Seems I heard that but the memory of what I heard is too vague to swear to. Kevin, do you recall Scott McKenzie saying that? Mike

One person consensus... =] Not to act smart (it's not like me...), there are a lot of quench oils fast enough to fully harden thin sections of high carbon steels like 1070 through W1/W2. Every one of them will work well... Houghto-quench "G" (medium-fast) will fully quench 1/4" sections) as...

Thank you for that, Andrew... When I bought 5 gal. each of Houghto-quench "K" and "G", it was because I couldn't get Parks #50 and AAA. I learned later on they are actually better quench oils that will do the same job, and at the time I bought, cheaper too. I'd love to have messed with...

I'm not an expert, Tracy, but I've gotten from Kevin Cashen and "Mete" that simply moving a blade in the quench constitutes agitation... end to end movement... never side to side. "Mete" discussed a whirlpool type "agitator" somewhere in knife-forum land. Seemed as simple a system as others...

Tracy, If you holler at Kevin Cashen, he is likely going to be able to put you into easy contact with the people you should talk with. In some forum-yap I picked up on another quench oil company who sounded like they would be happy to work with knife makers. I think Kevin may be working with...

Whew !!! Beauty, Bruce... =] Mike

That's a really pretty knife, Bruce. Looking at it, I wondered how you would have done the guard and pommel if it wasn't going to be engraved. Mike

Robert, I sure don't need an apology... =] I can understand you not wanting to get into a large quench oil expenditure, given the amount of use you would put it to. Just so I've said it, I'd buy commercial quench oil before I bought a whole lot of things for making knives and other...

Kelly Cupples was mentioned as a seller of Park #50 and Park AAA... If you e-mail Kelly at... octihunter@charter.net ...and ask for a current price list, he will e-mail one to you. A possible way to get Houghton Oils easier than having the minimum quantity of 5 gal. shipped from eastern...

Robert, Have you looked into commercial quench oils... they are designed specifically to do the job I think you are looking to do. That's not true of mineral oil. Mike

Seems like there is a lot of this question still up in the air. My understanding is, the normal steels a person would forge (10xx, 15N20, W1/W2, O1, O2, L6, 5160, 6150, 52100) do not have enough retained austenite to need cold treating, let along cryo treating. In Kevin's example of I-T...