Thread: A question about quenching media, and the science behind quenching

A Blacksmiths trick to cool steel real fast is to put a bottle of Dawn dish liquid in a gallon of water & a pound of salt also. This reduces the surface tension of the water & makes the water cling to the metal reducing the steam blanket around the steel. This will make high carbon steel very hard & can be used to harden mild steel a bit. When I was making railroad spike knives for the biker & buckskinner trade I would this process To get the blades a little harder. I may be off on the amounts of Dawn & salt but this is well known info. I have been out of smithing for a while & my memory sometimes is a little cloudy. LOL

Slawman

Originally Posted by Slawman

A Blacksmiths trick to cool steel real fast is to put a bottle of Dawn dish liquid in a gallon of water & a pound of salt also. This reduces the surface tension of the water & makes the water cling to the metal reducing the steam blanket around the steel. This will make high carbon steel very hard & can be used to harden mild steel a bit. When I was making railroad spike knives for the biker & buckskinner trade I would this process To get the blades a little harder. I may be off on the amounts of Dawn & salt but this is well known info. I have been out of smithing for a while & my memory sometimes is a little cloudy. LOL Slawman

Superquench solution has been discussed. And I specifically used 1030 steel as an example because that is the material track spikes are made from.