Old timer told me to stop quenching in water and I should have listened sooner

I was making a splitting wedge last fall and a retired farrier named Walt walked by my shop near Harrisburg. He said I was ruining my steel by dunking hot work in water instead of oil, and I brushed him off as old-fashioned. After my third wedge cracked in half, I tried his method with canola oil and havent had a single crack since - has anyone else had a better experience switching to oil quenching?

3 comments

3 Comments

miles_young5919d ago

Water's been good enough for every blacksmith I've known for forty years, sounds like you needed to adjust your technique instead of buying fancy oil. What kind of steel were you using that cracked so easy?

anthony_campbell8819d ago

1095 steel with a vinegar and salt water quench. Worked great for about 12 hours until the blade had more cracks than a dried out mudflat. Turns out grandpa's methods work better when he's the one doing them.

drewgonzalez17d ago

Man, I feel that. Walt knew what he was talking about for sure. I used to be the same way, just dunking everything in water and wondering why it kept cracking. Switched to oil a few years back and it changed everything. Water's too harsh for most modern steels, you gotta give the metal a chance to cool slow.