Anyone tested McMaster-Carr quench oils?

Jake, it seems that it depends on the steel that you are using. With thick (1/4" or more?)1095, w-1, or W-2 it may be too slow to fully harden, but I've been pouring over threads for the last couple of days and looking around everywhere and it should be fine(:foot:) with thin 1095 and most other oil hardening steels. You'll have to find the time/temperature/nose/s-curve :p chart for the steel your using and see how it relates.

I plan on using it in the next couple of hours to harden 5160. I'll report back if anything goes awry;)

And, as an aside, the label on the McMaster 28-second oil clearly states that it is strait mineral oil:eek:

oil label 003.jpg

-Walt
 
i would love to hear how your HT goes. i am really curious. i'm not ready to drop the kind of cash that the parks costs. was hoping that this would work.

thanks

jake
 
ok i'm sure this question is stoopid.

every one talks about heating the oil up before HT. what if you didnt would that speed it up?

jake
 
Nope. You want the oil warm to to allow it to transfer heat more efficiently. If it is cold it works slower. I know it sounds backwards but by decreasing the viscosity the oil is moves easier, so you always have fresh cooler oil next to the steel to absorb the heat. If your pan of oil is cold, the oil next to the blade gets hot, but that heat doesn't get dispersed throughout the oil as quickly.

Sorry I'm not really good at explaing it:( I hope it make sense.
 
The thing to remember about "mineral oil" is that it doesn't tell us much more than "vegetable oil" or "beans", at least in my opinion.
 
Walter thanks for the explanation. it does make sense.

JT, Acrid, do you guys mean that just knowing that its straight mineral oil doesnt tell much because you still dont know what grade? does mineral oil come in weights like motor oil?

are we to assume that Mcmaster carrs slow quench that is straight mineral oil is something different than let's say the vet grade mineral oil sold by tractor supply?

i hope i'm not being to much of an indiot here, i really just want to figure out this heat treat stuff.

thanks

jake
 
strahd71 said:
are we to assume that Mcmaster carrs slow quench that is straight mineral oil is something different than let's say the vet grade mineral oil sold by tractor supply?
Click to expand...

I think that they're saying the different grades may have different properties when it comes to quenching. It makes sense, since every other oil has different weights and grades. Whether this is the same as vet. grade mineral oil, only the guys at the factory know:)
 
with this quenching stuff the more ya learn the more questions you come up with.

thanks guys

jake
 
strahd71 said:
Walter thanks for the explanation. it does make sense.

JT, Acrid, do you guys mean that just knowing that its straight mineral oil doesnt tell much because you still dont know what grade? does mineral oil come in weights like motor oil?

jake
Click to expand...

Jake, I looked into this because one of the bigger suppliers of mineral oil - STE Oil - is very near me.

http://www.steoil.com/catalog.asp?category=oil&application=all

Not only are there a lot of different weights (viscosities) and grades, but McMasters turned out to be cheaper!


Doc Shipley
 
I have a gallon of 11 second quench oil inbound and I hopefully will be hardening some 3/16” and some 1/16” 1095 blades this weekend. I’ll post some before & after pics. But I’m too inexperienced at this to give a valid review of the results.
 
Jake,
A hair over $20 delivered for 1 gallon and they are fast I ordered Monday and had it today. The blades are sanded to 240grit and I will probably take them to 600grit before hardening. I just need to find a suitable quench tank. Right now my running options are; a metal drywall mud or paint trough, a piece of 4” ID metal tube with and end cap or taking the top off of a 5# CO2 cylinder.
Ray
 
Jake, I've got a 5 gal pail of both the fast and the slow Mc-Carr. Haven't used the slow, but the fast perfectly hardened my 1084 plus gave me a cool hamon (for a first-timer).
-Mark
 
i'm gonna have to splurge and get some. Walt the origional poster on this thread has had good results too. he also said in an email that the 28 second worked well for 5160 also.

i'm still trying to just forge a KSO so i got a little time before i need it.

thanks

jake
 
polish avenger said:
Jake, I've got a 5 gal pail of both the fast and the slow Mc-Carr. Haven't used the slow, but the fast perfectly hardened my 1084 plus gave me a cool hamon (for a first-timer).
-Mark
Click to expand...

Mark,

What temp for the oil? What temp for the blade? Did the blade have clay or equivalent on it?

Mike
 
Mike, the oil was heated to 130F. The blade temp was 1500F. I used a high heat mortar made by DAP. It comes in a handy caulk-gun tube and I think I picked it up at Home Depot or someplace similar. It's used for fireplace repairs and such. Comes off pretty easily after quench.
-Mark
 
Well I got the blades prepped and ready to harden. I had my 11second quench oil from McMaster Carr. I then began to learn a few things. 1- Direct flame from a Turkey fryer burner will not get a piece of 1095 to 1500’F, 2- a Prestolite Torch with Mapp gass might get a piece of 1095 to temp but not before I ran out of gas or my arms gave out, 3- when 1 and 2 failed I failed to build a big enough fire to get coals to heat the steel to temp, close probably to 1200 or 1300’F but no cigar. Judging by color I thought I was close enough so I went ahead and tried to temper anyway (pictures below). The 1/16th pieces will still bend by hand and a file will still bite after I sanded off the scale. Well back to the drawing board.
 

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dont laugh but ya know what i did. i made my own version of the "coffe can forge. i used a bigger soup can poked a hole for my benzomatic htj7 and lined it with furnace cement i got at a tractor supply. when used with map gas it got plenty hot to anneal files and such, and to forge. no problem getting to non magnetic i think it cost me 5 dollars not counting the torch. it takes the furnace cement a few minutes to heat up but once the cement gets hot it works well. might be an option till you can figure something else out.

good luck

jake
 
Jake,
Yah, the answer is to just bite-the-bullet and finish my forge. All of the stop gap options are all about the same price as finishing the forge whether it be a second hand oxy/acetylene torch (money) or building a big wood fire (time). I just need to order some Inswool, satanite and ITC-100 from Ellis and finish either the inert 20# propane tank or the 16” of industrial helium cylinder into an atmospheric propane forge. The propane tank will give me better insulation and is easier to cut so it will probably get the nod.

Thanks for the moral support,
Ray

By the way the 11second oil left next to no scale beyond the carbon the blades probably picked up from the coals and the fireplace mortar on the larger blades blew itself off in the quench. And going straight in vertically there was no flare ups.
 
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