Old timer told me to quench in sunflower oil, not canola. He was dead wrong.

I was at a hammer-in last spring and this guy named Bill, must've been 70, swore up and down that sunflower oil gives a better edge on carbon steel knives. I tried it on a batch of 1084 and got nothing but soft spots and a weird smell in my shop. Switched back to canola for the next dozen blades and they all came out perfect. Has anyone else had a bad experience trying some old-timer's "secret" quenchant?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_david11h ago

Nah, I gotta push back on this one. Bill might be onto something if you're running the right steel and temperature. I've used sunflower oil a few times on 1095 and got clean hard spots with less smoke than canola. Smell's different for sure, not saying it's good, but maybe your batch was too thin or you didn't preheat the oil enough.

margaret_nelson9h ago

Thin oil just means faster quench, that's how you get cracks, not cleaner steel.