Debate: Should you quench in oil or water for high carbon steel?

I've been doing this for about 2 years and always used water for my blades. Last week I tried canola oil on a 1095 chef knife and the edge came out way harder with less warping. But my buddy swears water gives better pattern visibility on damascus. Has anyone else noticed a big difference between the two methods?

4 comments

4 Comments

wesley_jones4d ago

Dude same thing happened to me! Switched from water to peanut oil on my 1084 blades and got way less cracking and the heat treat felt more consistent across the whole edge. Water gave me a nice hamon on a 1095 blade once but the warping was a pain to fix.

simonp764d ago

Oh man, that water warping thing is the worst! I tried water once on a small chef knife I was making and the blade twisted so bad it looked like a damn pretzel. Ended up having to scrap the whole thing cause I couldn't get it straight without cracking it more. Peanut oil's been my go-to for a while now, same as you. But I actually had a buddy who swore by canola oil for 1084 and I tried it last month - got a really nice even hardness across the edge and almost no scale. Might be worth a shot if you ever run out of peanut oil.

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stone.lisa4d ago

Sounds like @wesley_jones and you both learned the hard way that water is a cruel joke on blade steel.

cole_baker4d ago

Read a forum post last week where a guy used warm motor oil for 1084 and swore by it, though that sounds sketchy to me.