Building the Quench Tank

 So we're building a quench tank to go with the rest of our equipment.

 First we scavenged a 48"x24"x1" old press plate to cut our base out of.

 I made a 24" diameter circle for our base.

 Greg then cut it out, cue Greg actions shots.

 Cutting it in half.

 Kinda worked.

 Cutting the corners off.

 More corner cutting.

 Sad panda concrete.

 Mmmm slag

 More corner cutting

 Super Greg action shot!

 Another super Greg action shot!

Super hot kids, don't touch!!

 This is the 5 1/2" diameter pipe that we scavenged for the other part of the quench tank.

 I ground a bevel into the edge to make it a better weld surface.

Ooooo close up bevel shot!

 So as I was grinding the rust off of the press plate, I made a discovery.  Let's call it a happy accident.  As I ground the rust off, I found imprints of all the items that people had pressed into the top of the plate.  It was strangely beautiful as I uncovered a pair of scissors, a screw, bits of wire, safety pins and other such imprints.

 Marked center

 Placed the pipe on the base

 Super Greg welding action shot!

 Yay arc welding

And now for my answering Greg segment:
What is this device going to be used to do? 
The quench tank will be used for quenching any work after it is tempered.  It'll just be filled with normal household vegetable oil.
What had we used previously that didn't work and why? 
Previously we had used a soup can filled with vegetable oil, but it was much too small for anything larger than a small axe head.  When you use too small of a quenching container it leaves part of the work exposed to the air, which results in the surface of the oil catching on fire.
What did we add to make the device even more useful? 
In order to make the quench tank a more useful item, we added a lifting basket to it.  This makes it possible to quench things that are shorter than the tank and still be able to get them out.
And, finally, what did you think of that would prevent the tips from getting blunted?
Since the basket is just made of plate steel and some bent rod, if you dropped your blade into the tank it would chip the tips off of your piece.  I'm going to attach a scrap of ply to the plate steel so that it can cushion the tips of the projects.