gnique, don't feel at all isolated in oversimplifying the concept, you are in good and plentiful company, and it is the oversimplification that has resulted in so much of the confusion and controversy with this topic. Here are two examples of misleading extremes-
1. The process is too much and so touchy that only Park Metallurgical #50 quench will get you to the perfect blade, get that stuff and you don’t need to know all the ins and outs, it is so wonderful it will solve all the problems.
2. Heck, all you have to do is cool the blade quick so anything will work, even the mud behind my shop can cause a file to skate and that is all you need.
Both of these approaches are flawed and oddly for the same reason, they assume a simple solution can replace the need for detailed knowledge and skills concerning the process. Our business has long suffered under the overwhelming desire and belief in magic bullets or shortcuts to success, when true success in knifemaking is no different than any other thing in life, it involves gaining knowledge and skills through massive amounts of study and practice.
The number one idea that keeps people from improving their quenching methods is the oversimplification that it is all about speed of cooling; if that were the case all we would need is a 9% brine solution for everything, it is hard to get much faster. But a true successful quench is incredibly complex and would take pages to even scratch the surface, so I myself will need to resort to an oversimplification- the most effective quench is one that gets you the maximum hardness via martensite percentage, without undue thermal shocking of the steel that is unnecessary.
Each steel will have its own sweet spot in heating for the quench and each steel will have it own sweet spot in the cooling rate.
The best I can give you for the simple guide is this-
Fast quench oils (6-9 seconds): W1, W2, 1095, 1084, 1080, 1075, 15n20
Medium speed quench oils (9-12 seconds): 01, L6, 52100, 5160, 8670m
ARGGHH! I was editing to give you some other information but it did it again! What key or combination of keys on the right hand side of the keyboard causes the browser to go "back" and loses all that you have typed? I hit it all the time, and it is maddening! Let me collect my thoughts and get a handle on my frustration before commin at this again.