Is Parks #50 quench oil dangerous to breathe?

C

coldsteelburns

Joined
Aug 2, 2010
Messages
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Hey, I just have a quick question about Parks 50 oil. I currently use canola oil to quench by blades in and the way I bring it up to temp is by put it on my oven range in my house using a candy thermometer (I have it in a bread pan) . I was just curious as to whether or not it would it if would be safe to do that with Parks 50 or if the fumes are a bit too dangerous or rather "unheathly" to do that in an indoor space. Thanks in advance for any help! :)

-Paul

My Knives and more... www.youtube.com/Lsubslimed
 
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Hi Paul,
I quench in the basement. If my air filters are clean and white when I start they are dingy and dark when I finish.
Even my face mask reeks of oil.
I have set up, 2 large Hepa filters, Fan's with 2 furnace filters and a exhaust fan. With all this running the air gets cleared out in a minute or so. But I only have to look at the color of the filters to know what my lungs would look like if I did not where a mask.
Be safe, You only have one pair of lungs.
Also have a good fire extinguisher for oil fires ready. A ABC rated fire extinguisher will cover all bases.
Sincerely,
Dave
 
David Loukides said:
Hi Paul,
I quench in the basement. If my air filters are clean and white when I start they are dingy and dark when I finish.
Even my face mask reeks of oil.
I have set up, 2 large Hepa filters, Fan's with 2 furnace filters and a exhaust fan. With all this running the air gets cleared out in a minute or so. But I only have to look at the color of the filters to know what my lungs would look like if I did not where a mask.
Be safe, You only have one pair of lungs.
Also have a good fire extinguisher for oil fires ready. A ABC rated fire extinguisher will cover all bases.
Sincerely,
Dave
Click to expand...

+1 smoke is bad for your lungs, oily smoke has to be worse. Better to be safe
 
Thanks Dave :) I appreciate your concern and heath n safty tips. I work in a Tuff Shed with a window on the 2 (opposite) sides which is good for when I need to reall air in out. I have a box fan in one of then that stays on pretty much 24/7 and when I open the other window across from it, it reaaly helps air things out but does hardly anything for the grinding dust. All my forge stuff is outside though on my patio with a 10x10 harbor freight tent over it all. But yea anyways, I guess I could get a small an cheap (cheap being the main thing here as I don't have a job) electric burner used at a thrift store or something that I can use to warm the oil outside if I decide to get some.

I contacted Maxim Oil for the price of Parks #50 including how much it would be to ship and the total would be like $147 (which is litterally all the extra money I have right now. I'm tryin to deside whether or not it would be the best investment for me "right now" because I really don't have alot of materials. I have enough to make a number of knives but I don't have many options of what I can use ie. hardware for knives n sheathes, kydex, leather, handle material, etc. I actually don't have much kydex or leather or leather working tools...

One thing is that I am really interested in getting my hamons to have more actiity and I have pretty much all the stuff one really needs to polish and bring out what's there ie 1500 silicon carbide powder, flitz, Ballistol oil ect ect. lol Sorry I know I'm rambling and getting off topic but I think this really is my main ordeal. whether I should just bite the bullet now and get a proper quenchant that will not only help to get more active hamons, but also make my knives have a better heat treatment, or just get that later and stock up on more supplies, which I can reall use. Any suggestions?

Thanks :) Paul
 
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According to the paperwork you dont have to heat the parks50 like you do the canola oil. I dont remember the temp range they recommend right off hand though, something like 70-100
 
Parks I usually heat to warm. Doesnt take much for a 5 gallon bucket worth since the parks transmits the heat very effectively. Most recommendations I have read state to have it around 90F to start your quenches. Not sure what the upper range is.
 
Awesome, thanks for the inf guys :) Since I would be storing my oil outide in my shed, and the weather isnt al that warm up here ecxept in the summer time, when you say "room temp" Don, does that mean that even at like 50 degrees it would work just fine? Thanks

Paul
 
Yea, I that's what I thought, was kinda a dumb question.. lol sorry bout that. One thing I've been wondering is if warming the oil by quenching a hot piece of steel in it prior to quenching my knife would make the oil go bad faster if I did that every time before HT-ing, .. or does oil like Parks 50 last forever as long as you get all the scales and debries out of it every now and then? Thanks for the help Don :)

Paul
__________________________________________________________________________________

My you tube channel www.youtube.com/Lsubslimed
 
To heat up your oil, just take a 2 foot piece of 3/4" rebar or mild steel and weld a block of 3X2X2" mild steel to the end. Heat up the block and quench in the cold oil. Move the block up and down to mix the oil and distribute the heat. The quench oil is the one place those cheap $10-15 HF IR thermometers actually work. Just aim it at the oil and read the temp.

Parks #50 works best between 80F and 100F. Use a minimum of one gallon for a small blade, and 2-3 for any larger blade. If you have a tank that holds the whole five gallons, it will do most anything withing length restrictions. A 7" piece of pipe 36" long will hold 5 gallons when filled to 6" from the top.
 
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