Can I quench in hydrolic fluid?

happycat

happycat

Joined
Jun 21, 1999
Messages
752
I managed to kick over my turkey roaster of quenching oil last night and am now without. I do have a couple gallons of hydraulic fluid for my press in the basement. Is that suitable for quenching 5160 and 1084? It will be awhile before I can afford to replace it with the real thing, and I've got a few projects in progress that I'd like to get finished. Any thoughts, warnings, suggestions?
Thanks,
Ed
 
I know plenty of people that ues hyd fluid, but you may want to check the flash point and how much smoke it will make when you quench. You could try a test piece first.
 
I use the cheap olive oil they sell in large cans at Wegmans. I preheat it to 130f. I'm sure that I'd get better results with real quench oil, but this has worked well for me for 23 years. I have tried petroleum based oils, but theflareup and fumes were unacceptable, so I went back to the olive oil. It doesn't flare much if at all, and it leaves the shop smelling like food

-Page
 
It will work for 5160 ok. The 1084 I would suspect you would have to move the blade back and forth quite quickly to have it harden fully.
 
i use a mix of tranny fluid and motor oil on larger blades and used canola oil on smaller ones. i have never tried hydraulic oil so i would do what rusty said and do some testing.
 
I have been told by lots of people that I respect that peanut oil is even better than canola, it has a higher flash point. It smells good too. :)
 
Peanut oil does have the highst flash point of the common food oils, but as mentioned, the issue will likely be quench speed. If you are using 5160 or 01, it likely won't be an issue. Just don't try quenching W2:eek::D
 
Thanks for the feedback guys. I'll do some test pieces and see how it goes.
Ed
 
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