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http://www.anvilfire.com/FAQs/quenchants.htm
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plenty. If you doing larger items in larger numbers use more oil and keep it agitated or stirred. Keep the oil below the
flash point. It takes more oil to heat up to the flash point then it does less. Always have the oil in a noncombustible
bucket with a noncombustible lid. If the oil flashes and catches fire cover the bucket with a lid. Never use water to put
out a flammable liquid fire. Always have a working class B flammable liquids fire extinguisher close by if a fire gets out
of control. Big fires start small.
Bruce R.Wallace - Saturday, 02/19/00 23:42:57 GMT
OIL QUENCH: Think about it, oil is less dense than water, less thermal mass for the same volume. It is not as good a
conductor of heat as water so the heat is going to build up around the part raising the temperature of the quenchant
even higher. It does not evaporate therefore cooling itself like water (it does, except that white 'smoke' is very near the
flash point - something you do not want).
Commercial oil quenching tanks have water cooled heat exchanges to keep the oil temperature under control. High
flashpoint oils are better than low. Many synthetic oils are non-flamable and make GREAT quenchants for the small
shop.
Bruce is a former fireman, and knows what he is talking about when it comes to fires. Oil quenching is something we
often get into to unprepared. It is a LOT different than using water. As mentioned the container must be steel and there
must be a steel lid. Preferably the lid is hinged to the container so that it is not missing when you need it. You need a
large well ventilated area preferably with an exhaust hood. Most oil quench tanks have a rack or heavy screen basket
so that you can drop the part in and not have your face or arms over the container during the quench. For small parts
like a knife 5 gallons is a good starting point. More is better and it is a good idea to have a cooking thermometer in the
oil if you are doing multiple quenches. You may have enough oil for one or two parts and the third one may flash if the oil
temperature has risen enough. - guru - Sunday, 02/20/00 01:51:21 GMT
SAFETY NOTE:
NEVER, use a plastic container for oil quenching. If the oil catches fire the plastic will follow and dump flaming oil and
plastic everywhere! As Bruce is fond of saying, big fires start small. Plastic containers such as the ubiquitous sheet-rock
mod buckets are not even suitable for water quenching as the steel can still melt through the bottom while being
quenched.
Quenching in oil: I tell my people that I use quenching oil, and I usually get a vacuous stare. A few years back, I went
to my Texaco distributor, not a filling station, and bought a 55 gallon drum of "quenching oil". It had the trade name of
Quenchtex. I think they had at the time, a rapid grade and a slightly slower grade ("A" and "B"?). Back then, I was doing
lots of O1 tools. I got the "slow acting", but it's fast enough. The oil has a higher flash and burnoff point than some of
the other stuff mentioned, and it has the proper rate of heat abstraction. And warmed up oil quenches a little faster than
room temperature oil, because of the change in viscosity. A safety tip that seems to work for me: I try to submerge the
whole tool quickly, at least what is red hot. It seems that if you leave a little red heat above the oil level, it wants to flare
up.
Frank Turley - Friday, 03/29/02 01:19:27 GMT
Now, in the "old days" (1950s, early '60s) you could still get whale oil for a quenchant! I remember an article playing
on the continuous mystique of the quenchant (since at least Roman times all sorts of virtues imparted to the steel were
attributed to the quenchant) saying that since whaling and whale products was being banned in the U.S. there would be
no more whale oil for traditional blacksmiths to "properly" temper tools.
I keep a small container of bacon grease at the forge for when I'm working small chisels and punches. After heating
with a propane torch I quench them in the grease. Ummmmm! Smells like breakfast!
Visit your National Parks: www.nps.gov
Go viking: www.wam.umd.edu/~eowyn/Longship/
Bruce Blackistone (Atli) - Friday, 03/29/02 03:00:36 GMT
PEANUT & INHIBITING OXIDATION (GOING RANCID)
Peanut oil has the highest flash point of all the edible oils. That means that it will get to a higher temperature before it
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http://www.anvilfire.com/FAQs/quenchants.htm
starts to smoke. Chinese chefs use it to the exclusion of all other oil. Stir frying should be done at a very high
temperature. One trick that chefs use to extend the life of their deep frying oil is to add vitamin E to the oil. Don't laugh
too quickly, there is a reason why. It delays the oil going rancid,(oxidising) thus extending its working life. .
Vitamin E is an anti-oxident. Antioxident chemicals inhibit oxidation by mopping up free oxygen free radicals in the oil
solution. (vitamin C does the same thing but itis not oil soluble, so it won't work).
Costco is a good sourse of cheaper vitamin E. The gel capsules should be opened and the fluid added to the peanutoil.
Dispose of the empty gel caps.
Please keep a lid on the oil quenching container to keep out all kinds of floating crud and also animals that could drown
in the oil (& make a really smelly mess).Light also speeds up some oxidation reactions, so keep a lid on the container
when not in use. A locking device will keep the raccoons away, hopefully.
I am not sure how much vitamin E should be used, per gallon of peanut oil quenching. Experiment and let, all of, us
know how much is effective Support the site, join C.S.I.!!! Regards To All,
slag - Friday, 03/29/02 03:41:59 GMT
RE quench oil. It is true that old deep-fry oil ( usually peanut oil) will go rancid after a while. There are 2 solutions to
this problem.
1...ignore it till the smell goes away in a month or so and it wont bother you again ( not sure if this is cause the smell is
gone or because it has overwhelmed my ofactory sensibilities)......or
2..When it ceases to make your shop smell like a cheap deep-fry joint, pour it back in the container and go back to the
back of the deep fry and trade it in...might skip the fish fry places, unless you like that sort of thing especially...fish don't
generally age well.
Please heed Mr Sundstrom's hard won experience regarding the special aesthetics of quenching in drain oil. I've used
drain oil and worse (PCB transformer oil was touted as "inert" with a high flash point and I used it for years. They were
right about the high flash point.) So when the excellent Mr Kidwell pointed out the virtues of used fry oil, I was mighty
pleased.
LOL...hurray Slag I like the vitamin E solution!
Pete F - Friday, 03/29/02 08:20:49 GMT
OIL QUENCHANTS: May I insert two bits of unsolicited input? I use cheap (hot press) olive oil, from costco in 2 litre
jugs, and I keep it in an old aluminum coffee maker (holds about 3 ltrs), then if I want, I can easily warm the oil, or leave
it cold - very handy for me, especially as the oil gets sorta thick in the winter if left unheated. May not smell as good as
peanut oil, but a definate improvement on used motor oil (gag)...Tim
Tim - Wednesday, 04/25/01 15:17:14 GMT
Super Quench was invented by Rob Gunter of Los Alamos Laboratory after they banned the use of sodium hydroxide
as a quenchant.
ROB GUNTER'S SOAP QUENCH
4 1/2 gallons water
5 lb. salt
32 oz. Dawn dish soap (blue)
8 oz. Shaklee Basic I
Stir before each use
Now, what is it? Basically it's a heave brine solution, with a surficant and an anti-bubbler in it.
It will not turn mild steel into tool steel. But for those applications where we need mild steel to be just a little bit harder, it
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