My uncle told me to always quench a hot punch in used motor oil
He said it would make the tip hold up better... so I tried it on a set of center punches last fall. The oil caught fire and I had to throw the whole bucket in the dirt. Turns out he was mixing up old advice for hardening with a real quench tank setup. Anyone know a safer way to harden small tools without a full forge quench?
Bacon grease? That's a new one. The smell alone would drive me out of the garage. I can't imagine trying to explain that to anyone who walked in. Your grandpa must have had a strong stomach for that kind of thing. It sounds like the old methods were just about using whatever thick oil was on hand.
The bacon grease thing is interesting but what nobody mentions is that old timers like @rosed32's grandpa were basically doing crude hot oil tempering without realizing it. That smell lingered for days though, I can still almost smell it reading this.