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Robb Gunter's Super Quench Demo |
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Written by Dave Brown
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Page 1 of 3 The Forgery School of Blacksmithings' SOAP SOLUTION QUENCH For mild and low carbon steels  Whether its on the internet group "theforge", at ABANA chapter conferences, or just general discussion between a couple of friendly smiths, when the subject of Robb Gunter's "Super Quench" comes up, most of it is fact, but some of what is passed around is erroneous. Yes, there are some errors, but generally minor. There is often a great deal of disbelief as to the efficacy of this Super Quench. Here's what he had to say about it at the Guild of Metalsmiths 1997 Fall Conference:
Before the Bessemer process made it feasible to effectively control the amount of carbon in steel, blacksmiths generally had only iron or tool steel to work with. The Bessemer process gave the steel manufacturers the ability to produce steel in a variety of carbon levels. Mild steel (1005, 1018, and the like) was touted as the all purpose steel destined to replace wrought iron. The manufacturers claimed that it was also suitable for many tools, but that it should be quenched in a solution of sodium hydroxide. At Sandia Labs, Robb and his cohorts experimented with this lye quench and, a bit to their surprise, they found that mild steel hardened considerably more that expected. Metallurgists and others will tell you quite readily that mild steel won't harden. It may get a little harder than if annealed, however it doesn't harden in the typical toolmaker's sense of hardening . Generally speaking, in a plain water quench you shouldn't expect to get more than Rockwell ratings in the low to mid 30's. Robb found that the sodium hydroxide quench resulted in average Rockwell ratings in the 43-45 range, with an occasional test result as high as 48. So, Robb started using this solution at Sandia Labs, but installed a vented hood system over the quench tank. This stuff is pretty harsh and the need for a vented hood was a no-brainer.
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The Elektric Anvil