mineral oil / vs / VEGETABLE OIL FOR QUENCHING

[bacustomknives]

Guys which is a faster quench, mineral oil or vegetable oil. , since i have no parks oil i been using vegetable , but been seeing alot of threads on mineral oil and was curious about quench speed?

 

[LRB]

From a test I remember reading, canola is the fastest this side of Parks, but still lacking. Mineral oil was behind canola, but why not get some Parks, or choose a steel that you can deal with easier? Since you cannot HT 1095 properly, you may easily get a better blade from 1084, which is not quite as demanding as 1095 in HT. 1095 is impressive only when it is right.

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

To expand on LRB's post:
A lot of folks seem to think there is some magic in a few extra points of carbon. Everything above the eutectiod - 0.84% carbon - is going into some sort of other structure. The difference between 1084 and 1095 is 0.11% carbon ( at the most). Properly hardened they will both be well above a desired blade edge hardness. Tempering will bring them to identical final hardness.Sharpness is mostly edge geometry, not hardness or toughness. The extra carbides in the 1095 are only a factor if they are there .It can well be the case that 1095 would be incompletely hardened, resulting in a lower quality blade that one made in 1080/1084 ( and properly hardened). See Kevin's post about the test results on a quenchant test.
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=776263
I have stopped using 1095 almost completely in favor of Aldo's 1084FG. If I want a lively hamon, I use a W series steel.

If using canola oil, warming it to 120F and adding agitation to the tank will help speed the quench.

 

[sunshadow]

Until I got Parks 50 I was using olive oil heated to 130f and getting "good" results on 1084 and O-1. 1095 will not harden completely in either vegetable oil or mineral oil, you will have pearlite issues.

-Page

 

[Will52100]

Not a real big fan of 1095, nothing wrong with it, but you have to be quick to qench, and have a fast quench oil. 1084 is much easier to use and will provide just as good a blade if not better. If I were to use anthing other than parks for it I'd use fresh veggie oil heated to around 150 deg. F. It'll flame, but will be a fast quench.

Minneral oil is a slow quench, good for things like 5160 and 52100. Texico type A is a specific mineral oil.

Your millage may very.

 

[Danbo]

If'n ya use veggie oil, ya can always cook ya up some french fries later!


(cough, cough; get yerself some Park's quenching oils and worry no more; cough, cough)

 

[Bill DeShivs]

1095 and room temperature canola work fine for me.

 

[bacustomknives]

Thanks guys for your comments