Showerthought: I dropped $400 on a fancy quenching oil setup that just made my blades crack.

I bought a full Parks 50 gallon system last year thinking it would give me perfect hardness every time. After six months and a dozen ruined pieces, I switched back to my old canola oil mix and haven't had a single failure since. Is the high-tech quench worth it, or are we just paying for the brand name?

2 comments

2 Comments

quinn_kim4517d ago

Watched my buddy melt down after his third blade cracked in a fancy vacuum oil quench. He spent weeks tuning the cooling rate curves, but his simple warmed-up vegetable oil bath worked better on that tricky steel. Sometimes the gear just gets in the way of the feel.

keith_henderson17d ago

Actually had the opposite happen... my old vegetable oil was too slow for some of the high-alloy steels I use now. The Parks setup gives that fast, even quench that stops soft spots. Maybe it's about matching the gear to the specific steel, not one being better overall.