Vent: Stop quenching your work in room temperature water

I see so many posts here showing off knives or tools with that weird cloudy, brittle edge. Look, I get it. When I started 3 years ago at my uncle's shop in Ohio, I did the same thing. But room temp water is way too cold for most high carbon steels. It shocks the metal, creates micro-cracks you can't even see, and your edge will chip the first time you use it on something hard. You need to warm that water up first, like 120-130 degrees. Has anyone else dealt with edges failing after a water quench and figured out a better method?

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the_oliver5mo ago

Yeah that "weird cloudy, brittle edge" thing hit home. I had a filet knife chip bad on a cutting board after a room temp quench and it made no sense until I read about the micro-cracks. Preheating my quenchant to 130 fixed it completely and I haven't lost an edge since.

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finley_bennett285mo ago

130 degrees is the sweet spot, I swear. Once I started preheating my quenchant (usually to about 140 for 1084, gotta adjust for different steels) the chipping stopped completely. @the_oliver you're spot on about those micro-cracks, they're sneaky. I had a chef's knife that kept getting weird cloudy spots right near the edge after a room temp quench, figured it was just bad heat treat. Turned out the quenchant was too cold, causing it to "shock" the steel and create those tiny fractures you can't even see. Now I keep a thermometer in my bucket and never have that brittle edge nonsense again.

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