how much of your quench oil do you use at a time?

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i've been using vegetable oil in a 5 gallon drum for quenching, but i'm ready to upgrade to the parks #50. as it's considerably more expensive, i'd like to use it as efficiently as possible. so i'm wondering, if i'm buying 5 gallons of it, what's the best way to use it, quantity-wise, if i'm just quenching normal sized blades? i mean, should i use a couple of gallons in a smaller container, or just go ahead and quench in the full 5 gallons? or does it matter at all?

mostly i used 1084 and 1095....W1 as well, but that's for things like flint strikers as opposed to knives, so a perfect quench isn't all that critical. i guess if i need to heat the oil up, it makes more sense to go with a smaller quantity, but i don't know - i've never used the stuff before so i'm open to any advice y'all may have to offer.

thanks!
 
I usually quench several blades at one time so I try to use enough that the oil will not get too hot, but, I heat the oil to start to 125 f so dont want too much. I assume you filter and reuse? Typically 2 gallons
 
I keep about 3 gallons in an old pressure cooker. Has a nice cover and is plenty wide and deep for most of the stuff I do. I seldom quench more than 3 or 4 at a time. On the filtering I haven't yet. I don't agitate and the scud seems to settle to the bottom of my parks 50. I suppose someday i should run it thu a filter. Is a coffee filter enough or should I set up a pump and some kind of oil filter?
 
I welded up two tanks that are both 8 inches square and two feet long.
One for #50 and one for Tex "A". They each hold a full 5 gallons, with some room to spare at the top for "waves"!
It's surprising how much heat proper oil can extract in such a short amount of time. Even with a full five gallons, the temp of the fluid will rise considerably after only one or two knives being quenched.
It is my sincere recommendation to use the full five gallons.
All time spent trying to "scrimp and save" in knife making is time that could be better spent, well, knife making!
 
Karl B. Andersen said:
It is my sincere recommendation to use the full five gallons.
All time spent trying to "scrimp and save" in knife making is time that could be better spent, well, knife making!
Click to expand...

I second that with one addition. The time spent to scrimp and save might cause you to redo the process again and again, Or redo the whole project.
 
works for me. i'm actually more concerned about having to track down a smaller, suitable container than i am about using all 5 gallons at once...too much crap in my shop as it is...
 
I use a Home Depot 30 quart turkey fryer as a quench tank with 5 gallons of Parks #50. There is still a goodly amount of room for more oil in the tank. I use W2 and 1084, so no edge quenching for me. Stick it in point first and agitate.:D I just ordered another 5 gallon pail of Parks, I figure I will be using somewhere between 6 and 7 gallons. 5 gallons limits me to blades of no more tan 11 inches of so. I figure with the tank topped off, I should be able to do a 14 inch blade no problem. For anything bigger that that, I figure that I would have to have a tank welded up from from a big piece of 12 inch well casing and steel plate.
 
I seem to recall the rule of thumb being one pound of parts per gallon of oil
suggested as the minimum by someone in the quenching oil industry on one of these forums.
 
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