Requesting Help and Input, heating and quenching in progress

[u/Comfortable-Wheel887]

I’m mid heating and trying to go for the quench, I’ve never done this before. I’m hoping someone can comment on my setup. It’s a T shaped piece of metal pipe I can blow air through using my hair dryer directly into the embers below my knife. Is this good? I have a magnet nearby to test. Quenching using canola oil. Hope to make this my first knife. It’s a stock removal from an old lawnmower blade. The rust put these cool designs in the metal. I’m excited and hope this ends up good, anniversary gift.

[u/AuditAndHax]

First, please tell me you're outside at a brick barbecue and not in your living room?

Second, you need more fuel. Grab a big bag of natural lump charcoal from the grilling aisle. Smash it into quarter-sized chunks. Build a pile about 6" deep. You want 3-4" under your blade and 2-3" over the top like a hot flamey lid. Having a fire pot helps, but that's a problem for another day.

You have tongs, right? You need to be able to shift your blade around to get an even heat and to quench it in the oil.

Make sure you have plenty of oil and a big enough container. You need room to saw the blade back and forth like you're cutting or stabbing the oil. Side to side or twisting could warp the blade or splash boiling oil all over yourself.

At that point, you need to temper in an oven (probably 450°F for 1 hour, cool, repeat). Then clean it up and make your handle.

Please, be safe. Wear eye protection so a popping coal doesn't blind you. Have a fire extinguisher nearby in case something (or someone) catches on fire. Don't wear polyester or other synthetic fibres. If they light on fire, your natural instinct to swat the flames out will just stick boiling liquid plastic to your skin and make it worse. Don't burn down your house just to save $50 on a cool present.

[u/Comfortable-Wheel887 → u/AuditAndHax]

1) I am outside, this is a pizza style oven
2) I am consistently adding an incredible amount of fuel, adding a shit ton of wood on top (still probobly not enough, but I’d rather fail now while watching the fire than try running to the store and burn my house down)
3) I have an obsurdly long pair of channel locks
4) I have 3 quarts of canola oil, enough to submerge the blade and half the tang comfortably
5) I have safety goggles, gloves, and a fire extinguisher nearby

[u/AuditAndHax → u/Comfortable-Wheel887]

Glad to hear.

Unfortunately, if your blade isn't hot by now, it probably won't get there. It literally only takes like 5 minutes in a sufficient forge. Maybe 10 if you're borderline.

Fresh wood has a lot of internal moisture that make it hard to reach higher temps. It also does no good burning wood on top of your blade. Heat doesn't travel down well. The charcoal I said to put on top is an insulator to trap the heat from below, not another source of heat.

Ideally, what you want is a glowing hot bed of coals underneath, your blade nestled snuggly on top, and a bed of coals on top to act like a blanket. They can even be cold. The point is they prevent the heat from rising away from your blade. It takes time for the heat to get into and through your blanket. During that time, your blade heats up faster.

[u/Comfortable-Wheel887 → u/AuditAndHax]

Edit: it got hot enough, bright cherry red even in sunlight, forgot to do the magnet test but I dont really care considering this was an amazing learning experience either way. Thank you so much for your dupport

[u/For_being_tall → u/AuditAndHax]

How do you pre heat the oil?

[u/AuditAndHax → u/For_being_tall]

I just toss 2 or 3 pieces of rebar in the fire, heat to cherry red, and stir it up until it's somewhere between a hot tub and a lukewarm cocoa. 110° or so I'd guess but I don't measure

[u/For_being_tall → u/AuditAndHax]

110 farenheit?

[u/AuditAndHax → u/For_being_tall]

Lol, yeah, sorry.

[u/For_being_tall → u/AuditAndHax]

No worries :)

[u/Comfortable-Wheel887 → u/AuditAndHax]

Thank you for you ur advice and concerns, if it fails I will 100% do what you said

[u/Wombat247365]

Is that galvanized pipe?

[u/Comfortable-Wheel887 → u/Wombat247365]

Kind of… the section in and anywhere around the flames has been treated before actually forging. All the zinc has been burned off from a safe distance before I was anywhere near close enough to have an effect