Plate Quench Troubleshoot

[Michael Duma]

I am having some problems with my plate quenching. I am afraid I am not getting maximum hardness like I was from oil quenching. I just received a new Evenheat kiln And began using aluminum plates For quenching because it was necessary to wrap my knives in steel pouches during heat treat. I was told oil quench could not be done in pouches. Anyone attempted using oil while the blades are in pouches or alternatively using a mixture of quench plates and oil? I would like to make a vise for the plates where I can dip the entire thing in oil after it is clamped down.

 

[danbot]

I am having some problems with my plate quenching. I am afraid I am not getting maximum hardness like I was from oil quenching. I just received a new Evenheat kiln And began using aluminum plates For quenching because it was necessary to wrap my knives in steel pouches during heat treat. I was told oil quench could not be done in pouches. Anyone attempted using oil while the blades are in pouches or alternatively using a mixture of quench plates and oil? I would like to make a vise for the plates where I can dip the entire thing in oil after it is clamped down.

You'll get way more input and much better answers to you questions here: https://bladeforums.com/forums/shop-talk-bladesmith-questions-and-answers.741/

 

[rodriguez7]

You could oil quench still in the pouches. Just depends. What steel are you using? I freeze my plates, personally.

 

[Larrin]

Plate quenching is for air hardening steels. Oil and water hardening steels need a faster quench. You can use coatings instead like ATP-641 or Turco to be able to quench directly without removing foil.