TIL a lot of folks are quenching in the wrong oil for 1095 steel

I was helping a guy in Des Moines last Tuesday fix a knife he messed up, and he kept saying he used motor oil for his 1095 blades. That's a big mistake because 1095 needs a fast oil like Parks 50 to get a proper quench, not something slow like used engine oil. His edges were soft because the steel didn't harden right. Anyone here actually tested different oils side by side to see the difference?

2 comments

2 Comments

nancy27513d ago

so my buddy Tom up in Omaha had the same problem last spring... he was dead set on using his old ATF fluid from his truck for 1095 and kept wondering why his blades came out soft. I watched him do a test once with three different oils side by side - canola, used motor oil, and some Parks 50 I lent him. the difference was night and day honest... the motor oil blade barely scratched a file while the Parks 50 one rang like a bell and the canola was somewhere in between but still not good enough. he finally gave up on the cheap stuff after that because he wasted like six blades before he listened to me...

mila_mitchell13d ago

Hate to be that guy but Parks 50 is actually for faster steels like W2 or 5160 - for 1095 it's a bit too slow of an oil, you really need something with more snap like Houghto-Quench K or even warm canola will get you closer. Tom's test is a great demo of why medium speed oils make all the difference though, I just don't want someone reading this to think Parks is the magic fix for everything (it's not). The real trick with 1095 is getting that quench speed right, because if the oil's too slow you'll get pearlite and a soft blade every time no matter what brand you buy.