amy858•2d ago

Called bull on hardening with motor oil until I tried it myself

My buddy Mike kept telling me he quenches his knives in used motor oil and they come out harder than with water. I laughed and said no way that works right. So last weekend I forged two identical blades from the same 1080 bar. One went into warm water, the other into his old Mobil 1 drained from his F150. Tested them on a file and the oil quenched blade definitely skated more. Still not switching for everything but I was dead wrong about it being bunk. Anyone else find a trick they were sure was myth until they tested it?

2 comments

2 Comments

wade5582d ago

I mean, I was the same way about using canola oil for quench. Always thought it was just a kitchen hack people used cause they didn't have real stuff. Tried it on a small 1095 blade last month and it came out way tougher than I expected. Idk, sometimes you just gotta test it yourself.

rose_hart312d ago

Can I just say I once grabbed what I thought was canola oil for quenching but it was actually my roommate's fancy avocado oil she uses for her face? Wild times. That blade came out looking like a Jackson Pollock painting with smoke stains everywhere. But honestly, yeah, canola works fine for quick test runs. I've quenched more crappy kitchen knives in canola than I care to admit and they turned out sharp enough to slice through a tomato without crying. Sometimes the cheap stuff surprises you if you don't overthink it.