Quench tank idea...

[ShadNuke]

Ok, I was at the local thrift shop the other day, and came across an old electric coffee urn. I have been hunting down what type of temperature it gets up to, to no avail. I'm just curious as to what temperature everyone normally has their quench oil set at, specifically, rapeseed oil. Would the coffee urn put the oil at too high of a temperature to use it as a quench tank, if, I would assume it would likely be around the 195-205ish°F mark. I haven't fired it up to see what the oil temp actually gets up to yet, burning just curious on the numbers, and if anyone else out there is possibly using a coffee urn as a quench tank? I've seen guys using those slow cooker/electric roasting pans as a quench tank, so I thought this might work!!

 

[BartlettBlades]

I'm not sure how hot a coffee urn gets, but I use an electric turkey fryer for my blades up to 10 inches. It's lowest setting is 150, so I turn it on and use a candy thermometer to test it and shut it off around 125. Works great for me

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

Others have used a coffee urn. It isn't a great heating device, though. There is a little heater in the recess on the bottom. It will slowly heat the oil. You can monitor the temperature and shut it off at 130F, or make a PID control and have it keep the temp at 120F.

 

[Bill DeShivs]

I believe most of these have a small potentiometer in the works that can be adjusted to take the temp up/down.
At least that's what I have been told. I have a truck tire vulcanizer/press that would work great for flattening cow horn, but it gets too hot.
Started buying horn in processed slabs, so I never opened the press up to see.

 

[olymon]

You can hook up a basic thermostat adhered to the pot somehow. There are a lot of models and temperature ranges listed on sites like digikey. They are basically a bi metallic switch. Simple and efficient. I bought a heavy duty ceramic body one for $18, cheap ones are around $8

 

[ShadNuke]

Ok, I just figured I'd see what everyone thought. I think I'll stick to the hot plate and asparagus lot for now, until I figure something else out. Thanks everyone!