Brine Question

TK Steingass

TK Steingass

Troglodyte Knifemaker
Joined
Oct 16, 2010
Messages
5,779
Hi Fellas:

I've been hankering to make some big camp knives with a guard out of W-2 with a hamon line. I got my Satanite on the ready!! Now, on engnath.com I read that you can quench W-2 or 1095 with brine. I've just GOT to switch to brine - the oil smell, fire hazard, and mess around the property makes for an unhappy spouse, I assure you. :thumbdn:

In Bob's website it says you add enough salt so an egg floats.....my question is how much salt should I go about bringing home for a five gallon plastic bucket? Another question - is the salt you use for de-icing the sidewalk OK to use?

I'd appreciate your shared experience here, and thanks!

TK
 
Hi TK.

Here's one resource that suggests 1/2 cup salt per 1/2 water makes an egg float. Here's another that says 4 tsp per cup is enough. So you may want to try it yourself. At 4 tsp per cup amount, with 16 cups in a gallon, that would be 64 tsp or 1 + 1/3 cup salt. For 3 gallons you would need 4 cups of salt.

The salt used to melt ice is sometimes NaCl and sometimes CaCl. I don't think there is any reason CaCl wouldn't work, but why not use NaCl? It's pretty inexpensive.

There is more specific discussion on these other BF threads: here, here, here, and here
 
Oh, and put some milk and cookies out for the "tink" fairy. You'll be seeing a lot more of her.
 
The optimal concentration is 8-10%. Since a gallon of water weighs about 7 pounds, that means five gallons of water is about 35 pounds....and 10% of that is 3.5# of salt.


Jeez, don't they teach anything in school anymore? :)
 
If I mix up a batch of brine using 3.5# per 5 gal. How long will it last? Is there any concern over the brine becoming stagnant? How can I determine when it's time for a fresh batch?
 
I use 4lbs of salt for 5 gallons of water. No cracks or warping yet.

I keep the top on the bucket when not using it. Looks fine after 2 months. The solution should last quite a while I imagine.

Be sure to rinse off your tongs after using brine.
 
bladsmth said:
The optimal concentration is 8-10%. Since a gallon of water weighs about 7 pounds, that means five gallons of water is about 35 pounds....and 10% of that is 3.5# of salt.
Click to expand...

Stacy,

I think a gallon of water weighs more than 8 pounds, or 41+ lbs for 5 gallons. So 3.5# of salt would be about an 8.5% solution, not a 10% solution, right?

bladsmth said:
Jeez, don't they teach anything in school anymore?
Click to expand...

Why? Where did you go to school? :D
 
bladsmth said:
The optimal concentration is 8-10%. Since a gallon of water weighs about 7 pounds, that means five gallons of water is about 35 pounds....and 10% of that is 3.5# of salt.


Jeez, don't they teach anything in school anymore? :)
Click to expand...

They taught me in school that a gallon of water weighs 8.8 pounds . :D ;)
 
Sorry, my mistake. A gallon of water weighs 8.35 pounds ( not 7# or 8.8#). I was remembering that there are a bit over 7 gallons in a cubic foot of water. 4# salt per gallon is a suitable ratio. The perfect ratio is an 8% solution, which is 3.5# per 5 gallons, which is what I was saying ( just with the wrong weight posted).

BTW, If you live in the UK, a gallon of water weighs exactly 10 pounds.
 
Thanks - It keeps me on my toes. Plus, I have fat fingers ( with no typing skills).
One problem with head math and such is any error is going to throw the entire equation off. With google, or a calculator, at least the numbers will crunch right.....as long as you know approx. what the answeer should be.

On the other hand, I get a kick out of seeing blaringly wrong info posted because someone put a wrong number into an online calculator, or didn't understand the equation to start with. I once saw a post that stated something as dumb as " The bevel angle for a 1/4" thick blade with a 1" bevel is 83 degrees". He had put the numbers into a trig calculator and not known enough to see the error. He placed the .25 in the wrong place. Move the number to the right spot and you get 14 degrees.
 
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