Ultimate quench oil for 5160

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I don't think there really is an "ultimate" quench for 5160, but a wide range that should work fine,... not difficult to harden or especially crack/stress sensitive. It's one of those "forgiving steels". I use it mostly for choppers, whackers and blacksmith knives. :)
 
BackWoodsPuppy said:
HQ-K, P50, Parks AAA, 11 sec oil... whatever happened to vegetable/peanut oil? :confused:
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They are non-engineered alternatives and difficult to qualify when considering consistant quench speeds and predictable properties. Lots of folks use organic oils with success but your canola could be very different than mine. With engineered oils, we are comparing apples to apples. From that controlled platform, you are free to draw your own conclusions as to how organic oils compare.
 
Tai Goo said:
I don't think there really is an "ultimate" quench for 5160, but a wide range that should work fine,... not difficult to harden or especially crack/stress sensitive. It's one of those "forgiving steels". I use it mostly for choppers, whackers and blacksmith knives. :)
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I agree! Also as you mentioned I think an interrupted quench would probably be the way to go with the faster oils.
 
I consider getting a digital surface temp reader to at least get a grasp at what temp my steel is during a quench! I'm kind of kidding but that would be somewhat helpful, lol...
 
Rick, it's never a good idea to make "assumptions" about your quenching medium.

The vegetable oils are not AS stable as the petroleum based oils, but neither is fool proof in that or any respect. All of the studies I've seen on canola were done using ordinary grocery store bought refined canola showing virtually identical results. The smoke point of canola can vary with the method/degree of refinement, but it doesn't seem to be a factor in it's general performance.

The vegetable oils have withstood a lot of scrutiny,… yet the engineered fluids get by on faith. No one questions them, because they are “engineered“. As someone said in a recent thread,... we know more about canola than we know about the engineered fluids. Understanding the disadvantages is just as important as understanding the advantages in anything.

Does anyone even know what's in Parks #50?
 
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I don't think I was making any assumptions. I actually tried to tread as lightly as possible, Tai. I suppose I failed, sorry.
 
"With engineered oils, we are comparing apples to apples." Rick

That's an assumption, not necessarily a "fact".
Comparing canola to canola is no different.

How many batches of the same engineered fluid new/used have you compared? It's like assuming one batch of a steel is identical to the next.

...Where would science be without skeptics? :)

... always a lot of possible variables.
 
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Daniel Fairly Knives said:
I consider getting a digital surface temp reader to at least get a grasp at what temp my steel is during a quench! I'm kind of kidding but that would be somewhat helpful, lol...
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In the lab we would wire small bead thermocouples to the surface of samples (and we would use them once and scrap them, I bought a whole barrel of those scrap thermocouples and sell them from time to time cheap when there is interest) that way we knew exactly what the surface temp of our samples was. We did thermal penetration studies as well with billets that had holes EDM'd in them to various depths with thermocouples in them so we knew how long it took for heat to penetrate and equilibrate different cross sections of different alloys

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I'm guilty of bad wording. I was refering to comparing your P50 to my P50. You are going to get the same chemical analysis, because the company needs to have that level of consistancy to stay in business. Grocery store bought canola can vary depending on company brand, refinment process, crop origin, oxidation.... etc.
 
Rick Marchand said:
I'm guilty of bad wording. I was refering to comparing your P50 to my P50. You are going to get the same chemical analysis, because the company needs to have that level of consistancy to stay in business. Grocery store bought canola can vary depending on company brand, refinment process, crop origin, oxidation.... etc.
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How do the canola boys stay in business?... don't want my fried chicken turning out different every time.
 
sunshadow said:
In the lab we would wire small bead thermocouples to the surface of samples (and we would use them once and scrap them, I bought a whole barrel of those scrap thermocouples and sell them from time to time cheap when there is interest) that way we knew exactly what the surface temp of our samples was. We did thermal penetration studies as well with billets that had holes EDM'd in them to various depths with thermocouples in them so we knew how long it took for heat to penetrate and equilibrate different cross sections of different alloys

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I need to get a job with you! :D
 
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