I'm starting to make some blades, after years of building from purchased blades. Is there an alternative to quenching oil when you temper the blade after shaping?


Thanks,

Pete

Bacon grease. Only quench a third of the thickness of the blade, as you want the back of the blade to be softer.
I'm not a knife maker, but this is what a wiser man than myself once told me.

I used peanut oil with good results. I used old saw blades and they hardened nicely yet still maintained some flexibility. One thing i found was don’t quench the knife vertically, do it somewhat horizontally. This helped with blade warping on the material i was using.

You need to match the quenching/tempering medium to the steel alloy used in the blade.
Generally:

"O" series tool steels require OIL
"W" series in WATER
"A" series is AIR hardening and requires nothing

Get a copy of the "Machinery's Handbook" Goes into great detail on procedures.

Hydrolic fluid does good on 5160 or ( leaf springs) my dad could tell you more but you gotta have a fluid that cools quick and dissent stick to the still basically again my dad is the Knife Maker, I just make knives from time to time!
https://m.facebook.com/kyriverblades/

Thanks for the advice. I'm using an old one piece chainsaw bar for the blade. I annealed it and from the videos I've seen they say that if I put it straight into water, instead of tempering oil, after the tempering it will give me a brittle edge. I'm not afraid of screwing up my first blade, but I don't want to start a fire in my shop. I've never put red hot steel into oil and I have no source here for tempering oil.

Thanks for the help.

Pete

Yep! ^^^ and hardening and tempering are used interchangeably, they are not. You first harden the tool then you draw the temper to the correct hardness for the application you want. I don't know if this applies to the air hardening alloy, don't think so. You can purchase quenching oil that doesn't flash like other oils do. Also a lead bath is a good way to draw the temper by not getting the edge hotter/softer than the spine. A kiln with accurate temp control is what some of the pro's use but they're expensive.

cmcf...

I saw that on some videos and I will harden then temper. But I cannot buy quenching oil here, so can I use motor oil without risk of a fire?

Thanks,

Pete

Transmission fluid it flares but goes out quick keep a lid close and smother it if it gets outta control! It usually does not unless it's a big blade then it will burn pretty good! Don't panic and sling burning fluid all over your shop though!kilns are great but you can use an oven with good precise controls to get good results also small toaster ovens with a thermometer will get you there! Or by eye straw colored for simple knives it's tough to get good at but you can make a serviceable knife if your determinded!

You can also make salt brine baths I thank you add enuff salt to float an egg or tater but this method does not work on all steels it's makes some way to hard and will crack some steels because it cools so quick! I'm not sure what steel a one piece chainsaw bar is!

I don't know the first thing about knife making. I've seen enough of your posts to believe your word is good. I got no problem buying some quenching oil and sending it to you if you can figure out a way to reimburse me in dollars.

There are many options for quenching oil, vegetable oil, peanut oil, certain mineral oils, canola oil, olive oil, hydraulic oil, don’t see why motor oil wouldn’t work. Test it out on a piece of scrap steel and see how it does.

If you have a computer to get on Trapperman then you should be able to buy quenching oil. Not cheap though.

https://shop.brownells.com/gunsmith-tool...ASABEgKV8PD_BwE

Thank you for your offer Danny. In fact I've done the same for several on here who wanted something from Europe. I've got a buddy coming over in April who could bring me some if I go that route.

I think for my first blade I'll try some old motor oil or the tranny fluid and see what happens.

EdP... WOW! That is expensive. I love Brownells and they actually have a business here in France where they get shipments every week.

Thanks,

Pete

I have used old motor oil to quench knives made from files.
we do it outside, in a metal bucket, with long handle tongs. it will burn a bit as you dip it, but it was nothing out of control.

obviously you'll have your best results workign with a known steel and proper quenching - but why not experiment some.

I've gotten a lot of information here
https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/sticky-threads-all-the-good-info-you-want-in-one-place.1052730/

A lot of water quenching steels are still oil quenched in knife making. The thin cross section can have cracking problems water quenching and oil should give full hardness on something that thin. That being said you're going to want to use a fast oil for a "w" steel and not motor/peanut/atf oil.

wished i'd a paid attention the 20 yrs i worked for cutco/kabar.that's where i hid but never paid much attention.

also - im pretty sure you want that oil preheated to a certain temp as well.
I'm thinking 130 to 150 is what we used for the files

we heated and quenched a peice of junk steel several time to accompish this

Get yourself the book $50 knife shop by Wayne Goddard , alot of go info in the book. I use vegetable oil for quenching , then I clean the blade then put it in a pre heated oven at 400 degrees for one hour , then take it out to cool. You want it to come out a straw color.

I’m pretty sure full synthetic motor oil won’t burn. That being said I think I saw someplace that when quenched it’s not the oil burning but the vapor if the metal is removed too quickly !