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c/blacksmithsthe_kaithe_kai3d agoMost Upvoted

Tried quenching in hot oil instead of water on a railroad spike knife

I figured hotter oil would give a slower cool, but it actually hardened way too fast and the blade snapped right at the tang when I tapped it. Anybody else accidentally overdo an oil quench and have a better way to manage the temp?
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2 Comments
richardh44
richardh443d agoMost Upvoted
Did it on a file once, ended up with a really nice paperweight and a lesson about walking away from the forge when I'm tired. Takes a few busted blades to learn tempering matters more than we think.
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hannah240
hannah2402d ago
Oh man, that paperweight line hit close to home. Did you end up figuring out what went wrong with the tempering, or was it one of those nights where everything just went south? Always feels like the mistakes teach us more than the perfect blades do.
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