Quench Tank

Tom Militano

Tom Militano

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Feb 27, 1999
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A fellow knifemaker, Tony Bell, stopped by the shop early this week and I asked him about making me a quench tank. He told me he uses an old valve cover. What could be simpler? I think I'll go get one off my brother-in-law's old hemi engine.
 
I thought the hemi engine has the spark plugs right in the middle. I think a stock chevy 350 would work good.
 
One of these days I'm going to get off my butt and make a quench tank that has a high volume pump and heating element in it. Fluid could be pumped from the bottom of the tank up through piping , and flow down a trough back into the tank. I would be nice to have enough flow to lessen the vapor jacket effect.
 
Ive always thought a modified parts washer would make a fine quench tank. They have the circulation pump and a lid that automatically closes in case of a fire.
 
i use the bottom half of a water heater. Hook the heater element to 110 and you have a built in preheater
 
I think it was Bob Warner told me once he used an old fry-o-later. Said it was perfect.
 
I've used my kid's old red ryder wagon. :) For smaller things I'm just using a big pan. Someday I'll have a real quench tank. . .
 
30 cup coffe pot

ammo box

crock pot

freon tank

$8.00 chineese SS stock pot

five gallon bucket

water heater

NEXT.....
 
I don't know what the valve covers look like on a hemi. I just thought it would be a good idea to use one of his. It's not like he needs it to go to work or anything. I think he retired straight out of high school.
 
If it truly is a hemi it will have holes for the spark plugs to go through the valve cover plus one valve cover is probably worth twice what a chinese parts cleaner with pump costs. I am guessing that he probably has 440's. A hemi is worth about $5,000
 
I use a big old turkey roasting pan and I heat it on a two burner propane stove. I like the cover that fits tight just in case of fire and to transport it. ;)
 
Just something to add...

I don't think you can have too large of a quench tank. I do believe you can have one too small though.

Just my personal opinion, but the best is a tank that agitates the oil and can get/keep it at a desired temp for consistency. And also agitate the blade.

I have a tall tank that I quench O1 blades in, tip down. I can raise and lower the blade to help agitate.

For clay-hardened blades, I use a tank I can sweep the blade down into. Almost like I'm slicing through something.

I've read all the technical reasoning behind this, but it's been a l-o-n-g day, and all I remember is needing a fairly large volume.

I'm sure Kevin and Mete could give us the cold facts :)

-Nic-
 
After I went to Tractrock and saw the one there I went to work and welded me up one. Its just a 6x6 or 4"x4" (cant remember) piece of square pipe welded to flat piece for the bottom. Made a little lid for it and bam. I put that on my grill for about 15 min and it gets to temp pretty fast.
I do need a larger one though. Mabe I need to just make another.
 
Here's one of three quench tanks I use. It's made from an electric hotwater heater, with a rheostat attached for temperature control. It also circulates the oil. I can't tell you how to make one. This was done in trade for one of my hunters.

Side view
quench_tank_2.jpg



Top view
quench_tank_4.jpg


In the first photo you can see another quench tank on the bench that I use for edge quenching. It's a large deep stainless steel steam tray used in food service.
 
I have several that I improvised.A 6" shell casing for long blades.A 10 gallon stainless stock pot (it stores most of my oil),a steam table pan for edge quenching,and a stainless steel fountain syrup container .None of these cost me more that a few bucks at yard sales. I built a fine tank for a friend from a 10 gallon electric water heater with the top cut out.I put a small recirculation pump from the inlet (bottom) to the outlet (top) nipples.The casing top fits back on to cover it when not in use,or to extinguish any flare up.Temp range from 110 to 190.
 
I have 2 quench tanks....the first is a drywall mud pan and it is filled with the Goddard Goop quenchant. You have to test these pans out first to make sure they will hold liquid without leaking. You can seal the seams with high temp RTV sealant though.

The other is a 3 ft long stainless tank that was used for parkerizing and bluing rifle barrels and actions. It is about 4 in deep and 3-4in wide. It is filled with Tough Quench.
 
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