My anvil 'expert' cousin told me to quench in motor oil, what a mess

Last Saturday at his place in Ohio, my cousin swore up and down that used 10W-30 works great for quenching a tiny knife blade. I tried it in a rusty old pan and that thing smoked worse than a campfire with wet logs. It took me two hours to scrub the sticky black goo off my workbench, and the blade came out soft as butter. He watched the whole scene and just shrugged, said 'that's what grandpa did back in '72.' Has anyone else got a relative with advice that sounds good but just makes a bigger cleanup?

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the_adam1mo ago

Man, that cousin sounds like a real piece of work. Reminds me of a buddy who swore by using old transmission fluid to "season" his cast iron skillet, said his uncle did it for decades. We followed his advice and the whole house smelled like burnt pennies for a week, plus the pan turned this weird rainbow color and we had to toss it. He still claims we must have used the wrong brand.

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