RE hardening a frizzen question

Cayman like said:

Cabin Creek tuned up my lock and and did a very great job.

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LRB said:

If the frizzen is 1095, hardened but not tempered at all, it will break if you look at it wrong, assuming you got full or near full hardness in the quench. If are going to harden a 1095 frizzen your oil should be Parks #50, or canola oil. Being not a blade, but a frizzen, I would use the canola oil. A little pearlite will do no harm in a frizzen. Temper at 375°f. What steel and which Parks did you use on blades? Soaking a blade at quench temp allows more time for the carbon and iron to meld into a homogenous solution, but it can be over done, but more often under done, depending on the alloys involved. Such as 1095 which is little more than iron, carbon, and a spot of manganese is improved in 8 to 10 minutes at 1475°. 01 contains carbon, chrome, vanadium, tungsten, and manganese and requires 20 minutes at that same temp. In order to be at its best. Both are hypereutectic steels, and really should not be taken much above 1475°f as a target quench temp. Typical, common, 1095 contains a very low amount of manganese which causes 1095 to require a very fast cooling quench in order to harden to a useable state for blades. .6 to .8 of one second to get below 900°f in order to not allow the steel to revert to a pearlite rich condition which is a much softer than desired condition ranging from less than desired to near useless as a blade. No oil will quench 1095 fast enough to prevent a small amount of pearlite formation to occur, but the two mentioned will do well enough to still make a good blade. As for frizzens, a little pearlite will go unnoticed. If ever full maximum hardness is ever a requirement, you will have to use warmed brine. Brine cools faster than plain water and is much safer as far as a quenchant cracking the steel is concerned.

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