Small can vs large?

Pelagicfun

Pelagicfun

Joined
Oct 16, 2017
Messages
245
At what point is my 50 oil to hot? Back when i first got started and purchased my oil, all i had on hand was one of the smaller ammo cans. Up till now i have never treated more than 2 6-8" of 3/16 or 1/8 at a time. I would like to start being more efficient but i have to assume at some point the oil will be to hot for a good quench. I plan on buying a larger can but at what temp does a quench in p50 become less than optimal?
Thanks!
CC
 
When you hit 120F? A few years back, they changed the formulation of #50 so that you really didn't have to heat it. IIRC, the optimum range is 70-120. That means that because I live in Central Florida, there might be two or three weeks a year where I would have to think about heating my oil. ;)
 
That means that if you live in Vegas you have to add ice cubes 2-3 weeks out of the year.

Hoss
 
My experience with it is that it performs fine well outside that reported range. The biggest worry as it heats isn't how it performs as much as how low it's flash point is.
 
I only warm my #50 in the winter. The rest of the time I use it as-is.

The main point of a quenchant is to draw the heat from the blade efficiently. This requires a sufficient mass of oil. My rule is to have at least 2" of free oil around the blade and 6" of extra depth, plus 2" of tank above the oil. This would make the minimum tank size for standard knives around 4" by 20" .. which holds exactly a gallon. For a more versatile tank, use 6" pipe and make it 30" tall. This holds a tad over 3 gallons.
 
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