Quench oil and time for W2

[Steve J. Iverson]

I have been working on my first knife for awhile now. Most of the questions I had was able to find answers here on this forum. You truly do have a great group here. However I am now almost to that point that I have been losing sleep over, the quench. I have read so much my head is spinning. The steel I used is W-2. The closest supplier of quench oil is 1300 miles.  Would you recommend mineral or peanut oil? Also I have never found a good answer on how long to have the blade in the oil.

Thank you for your help 

[Wes Detrick]

I would recommend heated canola oil.  W2 requires a fast quench, and hot canola oil is probably the fastest thing you can get your hands on that is not synthetic.  Get it hot enough so that you can't leave your finger in it for more than a second or two.  Leave the steel in the oil until it is the same temp as the oil, pull it out, wipe it down really good, and immediately put it in the oven for a temper cycle.  Temper at 400 to 450 degree F depending on what you want to use the knife for.

I would suggest adding your location to your profile.  You never know you lives close to you that may be able to help out.

[Joshua States]

To judge the oil temp, I use a standard meat thermometer you can buy at any grocery store. Here is an article that John White posted about Hamons and W-2. He used Parks 50 quench oil, but Wes is right with the canola oil. That will work as well.

John White-Hamons.pdf

[Steve J. Iverson]

 Thank you Wes. I'm not sure what I will use the knife for. It started out as " I wonder if could make a decent knife " project. Now I'm hooked. I read one of the topics here that stated 400 was the best temp for a cutting board edge. If one tempers at 450 what kind of edge will you achieve?

I'll go back and try to add my location. I have to admit I'm better at working with metal than the internet.

[Steve J. Iverson]

Thanks Joshua. Have several heat guns and meat thermometers. From what I understand it's no longer Parks 50? Every knife making supplier I've found relatively close to me is out of stock on quench oil. Closest I've found is Texas, with oil and shipping it was over $300 for 5 gallons. If you believe it would be better I really don't mind sending the extra money, but if the canola will work as well it is far cheaper locally for me.

[Joshua States]

It looks like you can buy Parks 50 from Hightemptools for about half that, unless the shipping cost is really high. I'd suggest trying the canola oil and see how it works.

[Alan Longmire]

The temper you choose should be based on the intended use of the knife. A kitchen slicer at 350, a skinner at 375-400 depending on if you want to use it to split bones. 450 will give a tough edge that will not chip, but will need sharpening a bit more often.  Good for a large camp knife or small axe.

[Wes Detrick]

41 minutes ago, Alan Longmire said:

The temper you choose should be based on the intended use of the knife. A kitchen slicer at 350, a skinner at 375-400 depending on if you want to use it to split bones. 450 will give a tough edge that will not chip, but will need sharpening a bit more often.  Good for a large camp knife or small axe.

Hmmm, I have seen Don Hanson recommend 400 F for a cutting board knife and 425F to get 62 RFC.  I know he produced his own W2; does it differ from Aldo's?

[Alan Longmire]

Dunno, but if Don recommended that you can count on it!  I don't have a whole lot of W2 experience, unfortunately.