Warning: Quenching had me frustrated, but I just got it right

I've been trying to make a simple hunting knife for weeks, and every time I quenched the blade, it would crack or bend. It was so annoying, and I wasted a lot of steel. Yesterday, I decided to go slow and watch the color change more closely. I heated it until it was a nice cherry red, then dunked it in warm peanut oil, swirling it around like I saw in a video. After it cooled, I checked and no cracks, plus the blade was straight as an arrow. I tempered it in my kitchen oven at 375 degrees, and the finish looked even and smooth. It's not a huge deal, but after all that trouble, it feels awesome to see progress. What's one thing that took you a while to get the hang of in your shop?

2 comments

2 Comments

finley_coleman731d ago

Did you have to tweak the oven temp much during tempering? I kept messing up grinding bevels on my first few knives, always ended up with uneven edges. Took me forever to learn to go slow and check the angle after every pass. Felt so good when they finally came out symmetric.

the_leo23h ago

Man, heat treating is such a black art. I burnt up a blade once because my thermometer was off. Had to just start over from scratch.