stick it in sand

[GANNMADE]

i have heard from some oldtimers . that some
blacksmiths use to after quenching they would stick the blade
in sand .


do you know what they were talking about.
gannmade

[Ed Caffrey]

I can't imagine why something would be stuck into sand AFTER it has been quenched. What you may be thinking of is the annealing process. After forging a blade, there is much internal stress from all the pounding the steel has taken when being forged to shape. In order to relieve these stresses, the steel is heated to just above critical temp (the temp at which it is no longer attracted to a magnet) and allowed to cool to room temp in still air. The next step, which is annealing (this is what you may be thinking about), softens the steel and helps to reduce the grain size in the steel. This makes the material much easier to grind, file, sand, etc. Annealing is accomplished by heating the steel to non-magnetic, and then placing it in some type of insulating material which forces it to cool very slowly. Sand was often used for this purpose, but today most bladesmiths use vermiculite (the grainular insulation used in old homes) as it has a much better insulating value, and works much better for annealing.

[GANNMADE]

I'm not sure ed .but i might tinker with just to see.

[Joe Walters]

Hot sand can be used to temper long blades evenly, so maybe that's what they were talking about?

Possibly it was an interrupted quench to act as a sort of mar-quench?

Just two ideas. Otherwise what Mr. Caffrey said