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Quenched a rail spike in used motor oil, got a surprise hardness

I tried quenching a knife I forged from a rail spike in some old motor oil I had sitting in a 5 gallon bucket behind my shop in Dayton. Figured it would be a cheap experiment, but after the quench it came out harder than anything I've done with proper quenching oil. The edge held up through about 40 cuts on an old brake rotor, but then it chipped on a hard corner. So is there something about used oil with contaminants that actually helps, or did I just get lucky with the spike's steel? Has anyone else seen weird results with free oil substitutes?

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haydenp9513d ago

Ditch that mystery oil and just try refined stuff once, you'll see the difference.

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