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Old timer's advice about quenching oil saved my blade
A retired farrier named Chuck told me last month to stop using that expensive commercial quench oil and just use canola from the grocery store. I laughed it off at first since I spent $80 on the fancy stuff. But my last batch of three knives kept coming out soft and I was about to scrap them. Finally tried his trick with a cheap jug of canola heated to 130 degrees and the edge came out hard enough to skate a file. Anyone else ditch the specialty oils for something simpler?
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richard_hall9d ago
That "hard enough to skate a file" is the real test, but the part people miss is the temperature control, not the oil itself. Canola works because it has a consistent flash point and you can actually heat it in a turkey fryer without burning your shop down. The fancy stuff is just refined vegetable oil with a marketing budget, so you're basically paying extra for the same chemical reaction at a higher price per gallon.
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