Local Amish blacksmith here in KY I know, recently showed me some of his newest creations, one was a hawk fom railroad car spring, osage handle, wow was this neat. He had some nice hunters, 4-6 " blades with nice quench lines about 3/8 on them. He had a deep long pan, with a flat bar of steel in the bottom, covered in lard about 1/2 inch or so. He stated that he started at the tip and rolled it down the blade on the bar, and left it there till cool, similar to a samurai sword being quenched to pull the tip in a curve. Looked great, just wondering.
I have heard of a similar technique, MS Wayne Goddard uses, or did use, what he calls "Goop" to quench in. A combination of "stuff", I don't remember exactly what it consists of.
It apparently works! Interesting!
Steve
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Potomac Forge
W.F. Moran Jr. Museum & Foundation
koger, if you try this be very careful as edge quenching can lead to some serious flashing and cause big flames.
I watched Bob Engnath make some Japanese sword blades. (We lost quite an asset when he died. He did a lot to get beginners into the game with his semi-finished blades and his scrimshaw was a thing of beauty).
Bob had a HUGE gas fired oven outside his shop. His 1095 and 1084 swords went in straight with a clay edge wire-wrapped on. They went into the water quench completely. The thicker spine just naturally cooled slower than the thin edges and that produced the up-sweep of the blade.