? on quenchant

[farmrbrnboy]

I made several knives around 8 years ago from 1095 and 5160 steel, heat treated with 130 deg transmission fluid. I have not made any since and decided to start the hobby again. From my reading on the internet, the quenchant to use is canola oil or a true quenchant oil like Parks. What are the advantages of using canola or Parks?

 

[LRB]

1095 is a shallow hardening simple steel that requires a faster cooling quenchant than ATF in order to get the best qualities out of it. Parks #50 is about as fast as oil gets, and would be the best choice, but canola oil is also fast enough to produce a decent blade. 5160 is a deeper hardening, more complex steel and does not require as fast of a cooling as does 1095. ATF would work with it, but there are better less toxic choices. Read the stickies on this forum to get more details as to the why's and needs of the different steels. You are asking about two entirely different steels with entirely different needs.

 

[Doug Lester]

Your suppliers also matter. Not all 1095 is created equal. Some is really shallow quenching and pretty much needs something like Parks #50 or water to get past the nose of the cooling diagram. The disadvantage to water is the "tink" sound that the steel sometimes makes as is snaps in the water bath. The New Jersey Steel Baron sells a 1095 that is a little better formulated for knife making and will harden in an oil like canola or peanut. A better choice would be the 1084 that he carries, which again is not your father's 1084 but close. Of course, there's nothing wrong with the 5160 unless you are chasing a hamon by clay quenching.

Doug

 

[Kevin R. Cashen]

OOPS! ...Snip! (edited) I didn't get my sleep last night and thought I had clicked on the heat treating forum when I posted in this thread. farmrbrnboy, I have few words I typed up for you, if you want to ask about this in the heat treating forum