Rant: My old boss told me to always normalize before quenching, and he was dead right

When I was an apprentice in a shop in Spokane, my boss would drill it into us: 'Normalize three times, then quench, or you're asking for cracks.' I thought it was overkill for simple tools, so on a batch of twelve punches I skipped it to save time. After the first quench, three of them split right down the center. That was about $90 in steel and three hours of work gone. I had to eat the cost and redo them all, following his rule. Has anyone else learned a 'slow down' lesson the hard way with heat treating?

3 comments

3 Comments

charlie_fisher452mo ago

That rule sounds like overkill for basic carbon steel. Plenty of guys get away with a single normalize or skip it entirely without issues. Maybe your batch had some hidden stress or uneven stock to begin with.

mila_mitchell2mo ago

Consider how many guys like @charlie_fisher45 have a garage full of "good enough" tools that fail early.

carr.willow1mo ago

Honestly that's just how it goes with any skill, people always want to skip steps to save time. I see it all the time with folks trying to learn guitar and skipping basic practice, then they can't play a simple song. The shortcuts usually end up costing more time in the long run.