Old timer told me to quench my hammer in pickle brine, what a mess

So I'm at this blacksmith meetup in Omaha last summer, and this 70 year old guy named Hank swears by quenching your hammer heads in pickle brine to make the steel 'live longer'. I tried it on my new rounding hammer and the brine splashed back into my face, plus the whole shop smelled like a pickle factory for two days straight. My face stung for hours and the hammer ended up with these weird pitted spots. Has anyone else gotten terrible advice from the 'old guard' that backfired like this?

2 comments

2 Comments

wyatt_ross2716d ago

Hank was the guy who told me to season my anvil with bacon grease. Set off the smoke detectors for three blocks and the fire department showed up thinking the shop was burning down. Old timers mean well but sometimes their "tricks" are just something they did once and it worked okay so they never questioned it again.

jackson.sarah15d ago

Come on @wyatt_ross27, bacon grease ain't THAT bad. A little smoke never hurt nobody.