question on quench oils

J.McDonald Knives

J.McDonald Knives

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Jan 28, 2007
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i will be changing my oil on my car within the next week. will used synthetic or synthetic blend oil work? what about manual transmission fluid? what about a combination of both? or even my used motor oil with some leftover brake fluid. i have about a quart of it left over from when i changed the master and the booster and did a complete bleed out of the old fluid. also how can i go about heating up the oil? what is a cheap solution? since i live in texas i was thinking i could put it in a cake pan that has a metal lid and leave it in the sun or heat it up on the stove. i just spent $270 on monday for supplies for my forge and a new "toy" so im back to a really tight budget.
 
hey Jacob..were neighbors.. i live over in lakehills..and i bet the off road place youre talkin about might be near pipe creek..Personally i use olive oil..mainly because Harvey Dean uses it or did when i asked..anyway i have used old motor oil,and transmission fluid mixes with decent results. My best advice ,for what its worth..is use what you have and make some blades!
 
swede i need a valid email address from you so i can reply. either that or send me your contact info. please and thanks.
 
Okay Jacob it should work now..didnt realize it had been that long since i updated my profile..
 
Hi Jacob, Try a regular propane torch played back and forth on the bottom of your pan. Use a stalk type kitchen thermometer to bring it up to where you want it. Try not to do it indoors on a kitchen stove, and keep the cover handy if you over do anything and need to put out a fire. Good luck, Craig
 
its a good thing i keep jugs of water handy in old antifreeze bottles. i have a mapp gas torch i used when i was a plumber. i just need to get an old cake pan from my mom next time i go see her this weekend. do i need anything in the bottom of the pan like what is described in $50 knife shop or just pan with oil. i plan on using my old motor oil and the rest of my brake fluid and any manual transmission fluid i have left over if i need to top it off later. i bought it and havent had to use it since i take care of my maintanence very well. thanks for the help guys.

swede check your email. if you call and it goes to voicemail then that means im online and at my house. my cell phone is my internet for my computer.
 
Are you quenching a blade in it?
If you are?, then it's tricky to say if it will work or not.

while using old oil is nice and handy,and cheap.
But the best advice is to find out what type of real quench oil the steel you are using demands, and then get a little of it,

the stuff lasts for a long time...so even if it's like $25 or more for a gal, that gal will serve you a long time.
 
i dont have the money right now for any quench oil. im using 5160 steel. the oils i have available are used synthetic blend motor oil from my subaru, unused brake fluid, possible unused manual transmission fluid, and unused bar chain oil that i use with my electric chainsaw. which of these or combinations of these will work best for quenching 5160 since im back to a tight budget.
 
PimpinSquee said:
its a good thing i keep jugs of water handy in old antifreeze bottles.
Click to expand...

Uhhhh...I really hope either you're kidding, or I misunderstood and this wasn't in any way a response to the warnings about fires that can occur during quenching. Water and oil fires are a BIG nono. The water will not only not put out an oil fire it'll splatter the flaming oil when it converts to steam from the heat. Trying to put out burning oil with water is just BEGGING to burn your shop/house/garage/whatever down and/or really hurt yourself badly. The best way to deal with little quenchant flare-ups is to have a quench container with a lid that you can quickly drop back into place to cut off oxygen to the fire (I use a .50cal ammo can). For a real oil fire, have an ABC extinguisher on-hand.

As to heating up your quench oil. The good 'ol boy method is to heat up a small hunk of mild steel and drop it in your quenching container. Keep track of about how hot the hunk of steel is and how many times you need to toss it into the quench to reach the desired temp. After a while you'll have a bit of a feel for it. It's a good something to do while you're waiting for the cool-down cycles of normalizing before hardening.

-d
 
im going to be using a cake pan with lid until the military surplus guys come back thru here and ill see what size ammo cans they have and if it will work for me. also yes it was a joke about the water. i worked in the fast food business enough to know water on oil fires doesnt work. i plan to use 5160 for awhile until i get the hang of it and then switch to a different steel of the stainless type. my question now is what quenching oil(s) should i use for 5160 and at what temp(s) is recommended for the quench?
 
PimpinSquee said:
im going to be using a cake pan with lid until the military surplus guys come back thru here and ill see what size ammo cans they have and if it will work for me. also yes it was a joke about the water. i worked in the fast food business enough to know water on oil fires doesnt work. i plan to use 5160 for awhile until i get the hang of it and then switch to a different steel of the stainless type. my question now is what quenching oil(s) should i use for 5160 and at what temp(s) is recommended for the quench?
Click to expand...

5160 doesn't require a really fast quench, so olive oil or even safflower or canola oil would probably be fine. If you go for grocery store oils try to keep it to oils with a relatively high flash point like the 3 just mentioned (OK, olive oil has a kind of low flash point, so be careful, but it does work pretty well on 51xx series steels).

If it were me, I'd wait a few days and pony up the $5-10 for a gallon of grocery store oil at a minimum. The thought of used automotive oil just makes me cringe. All the nasty volatiles and heavy metals and evil that could be in that take it right off of the list of "things I want to breathe". It's also to be inconsistant at best as a quenchant.

-d
 
i know that bar chain oil has a high flash point. would that work? cause i have half a gallon of it left.
 
ought to. I used canola oil for my knife in (suspected) 5160 car leaf spring. there were flames danceing on the top of the oil and lots of smoke, but the knife after tempering was able to chop through a 2" x 2" batten and still shave hairs.
 
jacob be careful of the brake fluid mixed in ....tranny oils..ATF..can mix with crankcase oil blend or synthetic...I'm not sure about the brake fluid...I'd hate to have that lighter weight stuff setting on top of the oil....The good old boy trick of using a chunk of pre-heated steel 2 to 3 times the weight of the knife is a good starting place to begin...In a machine shop i worked in as a kid..The tool maker just had a can of lightweight cutting oil to do his quench in..We are lucky to have all this first hand info available to us...That said nothing like first hand experience...Get a nice safe metal container, ammo can sounds good...put 3/4 full of your BLEND in there...cut 2 chunks of steel one big to pre-heat the oil..the other near the size of your blade...Try a test of the procedure/materials...BEFORE you put the real knife in there you worked so hard to finish...Good luck, be safe...mike in ct
 
thanks. if i have any oils for my car its all synthetic. i guess ill still be holding onto that brake fluid. does the fact that the bar chain oil is sticky affect the quench?
 
If you go mixing various amounts of used fluids, chock full of various levels of god-knows-what, you are going to have no clue what's going on. If by some miracle it comes out perfect, you will never be able to replicate it once your magic potion is gone or filthed-up. You may also blow your damn face off and burn down the family ranch.

Please re-read mikeinct's post above.

I'm a po' boy too, I understand where you're coming from. But you're commencing into a scientific experiment involving hot, sharp steel and flammable liquids. Keep your variables to a minimum. That way if it doesn't work you'll be able to track down why. deker is right, cough up $10 for some clean oil, whatever you choose.

Sorry to sound like your mom or something, but hey.

On the other hand, lots of guys have made good knives with mystery-quench and dirty motor oil, so what the hell do I know? :D

On the other other hand, I have access to 5-gallon pails of new 90W gear oil (not synthetic) at work... do you guys have any comments on using that?
 
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