Am I the only one who used quench oil at the wrong temp for 5 years?

I always heated my oil to around 120F thinking hotter meant better hardening, until a mentor watched me and said 'you're boiling your steel, not quenching it.' He showed me room temp oil gives way better results for 1095 steel after a test piece shattered on me. Anyone else have a basic thing you got dead wrong for way too long?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_john28d ago

I mean, 120F isn't really boiling your steel, water boils at 212F so you were just warming it up.

milestaylor28d ago

Yeah so my buddy Mark ACTUALLY tried this, he left a cast iron skillet on a burner for like 45 minutes on high. He wasn't even trying to clean it or anything, just got distracted watching some show. By the time he remembered it the pan was smoking and the handle was glowing a bit, not like RED glowing but you could see heat waves coming off it. He said when he finally got it off the stove the surface had this weird rainbow discoloration and there were these tiny little pits in the metal where it had basically started to degrade. So yeah 120F might not boil water but it'll definitely mess up your pan's finish over time if you keep doing it.

rowan72526d agoMost Upvoted

Used to think that kind of heat was no big deal for cast iron, but this story changed my mind. Hearing about the pits and that rainbow color makes me realize I was wrong. It's not just about the seasoning getting messed up, the actual metal can take damage if you push it too far. Take it from me, I've wrecked a few pans myself by leaving them on high heat thinking it was fine. That glowing handle part is scary, metal that hot is definitely changing on a microscopic level. Your buddy's experience is a good warning for anyone who thinks cast iron is indestructible.