Recommendation? Quench oil

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Blackdirt cowboy

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Being new to knife making, I am primarily working with carbon steels, namely 1075, 1084, 8670, and 5160. I also have a fair amount of 4140 to forge some tools out of. Is there a one size fits all quench oil for these steels? With the price of commercial quench oils, I’d rather not have to keep several different oils on hand.
 
Blackdirt cowboy said:
Being new to knife making, I am primarily working with carbon steels, namely 1075, 1084, 8670, and 5160. I also have a fair amount of 4140 to forge some tools out of. Is there a one size fits all quench oil for these steels? With the price of commercial quench oils, I’d rather not have to keep several different oils on hand.
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Canola oil will work fine with the steels you are using.
 
Get some parks 50 and some AAA and you’ll be good for most of the popular carbon steels. 5 gallons of each and you’ll be good for years and years to come.
 
Parks #50 works for most simple carbon steels. Canola will work OK.

Volume is almost as important as type. You want a couple gallons. A 6" diameter quench tank is the minimum width, and it should be 6" deeper than your longest knife. A 6X18" piece of steel pipe with a plate welded to the bottom, or a cut off from a large oxygen tank that is out of test date ( free from many welding shops) is perfect. It will hold 2 gallons of oil when filled to 2" from the top. Make a good lid for it to keep water and critters out when not in use.
 
Thanks for all the tips. I have barrels and barrels of used hydraulic oil sitting around. I know motor oil isn’t recommended, but will hydraulic oil work?
 
Hydrolic, motor, or any other industrial oil that's not designed for heat treating, isn't really optimal.

Some folks use them, and even get good results sometimes, but that's not saying they are the best thing to be using.

The thing that concerns me about using them the most is, what's being released with the fumes? Bits of rubber from the hydrolic lines? You don't really know, cause it's used oil, and the contents are no longer known for sure, even if you knew the chemical composition before it was used...

Anyway just my thoughts on it!
 
I wouldn’t bother with hydraulic fluid. Maxim Oil is less than 2 hours from Marlin, Tx. They’ll have anything you could possibly need.
 
Parks 50 is my go to oil, I use it for just about everything. If it was the end of the world and I was stranded on a island and could only take one oil it would be parks #50.
 
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