Which oil would you use.

B

biker bo

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Mar 10, 2015
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I want to start using a commercial quench oil for 1095 and 1084 .
I contacted Maxim about their replacement for Park 50.
This is part of the reply I received.

We carry the #50 Quench from Park/Heatbath/DuBois for $92.01 for a 5 gallon plastic pail, plus UPS estimated shipping at $69-70. We also manufacture a comparable product for that fast quench speed, DURATHERM 48, which sells for $75.23, plus the same shipping. Our DURATHERM product is considerably darker in color, but yields the same quench range.

I want to save money but I want to be sure I'm using the best oil for the job. Who has had experience with either of these and which would you recommend.

Thanks for your advice.
 
Many of us use P50, and love it. For the shallow hardening steels like 1095, W2, White, Blue, it is an excellent quench oil that is close to water in speed. You get the hardness, without the risk of cracking.
That said, I know there are those here who do use the DT48 oil for shallow hardening steels. I think both oils have the same nickel ball speed. I have no experience with the DT48, tho. I'll let others comment on it.

One of the most important properties of quench oils is the nickel ball speed. Both DT48 and P50 have a nickel ball speed of around 7-9 seconds. They are both among the fastest quench oils available to us. Water is faster, brine even faster, both with distortion/cracking risks. Fast oils mitigate that factor.

"In this test, a 7/8-inch (22 mm) nickel ball is heated to 885°C (1625°F) and then dropped into a wire basket suspended in a beaker containing 200 milliliters of the quench oil at 21°C to 27°C (70°F to 80°F). A timer is activated as the glowing nickel ball passes a photoelectric sensor. A horseshoe magnet is located outside the beaker as close as possible to the nickel ball. As the ball cools, it passes through the Curie point of nickel (354°C, 670°F), the temperature at which it becomes magnetic. At this point, the ball is attracted to the magnet, activating a sensor that stops the timer. The time required for the nickel ball to cool from 885°C to 354°C (1625°F to 670°F) is recorded." from Machinerylubrication.com
 
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call the petroleum product distributors near you and see what they have. don't sweat brand names, ask for 8 second quench oil. you might not save that much on the oil, but you can drive a long way on $70.
note: I use Fuchs 12 second oil, since I mostly work O1 and O7. Fuchs makes industrial products, won't see them in a store, but they might be a supplier near you.
 
Yeah parks all the way, not saying anything bad about there home made brue but we know parks, I use parks and it's very much worth the money. Do you have to heat there oil to X temp befor using it? You don't have to heat parks which I REALLY love.
 
I use DT-48. Iirc it’s a hair faster than P50. I got the DT-48 as I found some in Canada, and didn’t have to deal with cross border shipping. Both work very well.
 
Willie71 said:
I use DT-48. Iirc it’s a hair faster than P50. I got the DT-48 as I found some in Canada, and didn’t have to deal with cross border shipping. Both work very well.
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Is it a regular source up here? I'm due to replace my quench oil this winter.
 
call the Jerry Brown Co. Inc. in Sutherlin, OR 541-459-2255 and ask for a quote for some Mobil Fenso 90 or 150, both are industry standard quench oils in the 8-9 second range. Parks is a 7-9 second oil. both Fenso 90 and 150 are available thru Mobil Canada.
hey, maybe they laugh, maybe they save you $75 or so.
 
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scott.livesey said:
call the Jerry Brown Co. Inc. in Sutherlin, OR 541-459-2255 and ask for a quote for some Mobil Fenso 90 or 150, both are industry standard quench oils in the 8-9 second range. hey, maybe they laugh, maybe they save you $75 or so.
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Thanks I'll give them a call
 
JTknives said:
Yeah parks all the way, not saying anything bad about there home made brue but we know parks, I use parks and it's very much worth the money. Do you have to heat there oil to X temp befor using it? You don't have to heat parks which I REALLY love.
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Maxim is a very large company, and this is not a “home brew.”
 
The one advantage that the current formulation of #50 has is that you don't have to heat it. At some point, they "restated" the temp range down to 70F. That means that here in Florida, i only have to heat it SLIGHTLY a couple of weeks out of the year. Most of the "medium fast" commercial oils in the 11-13 second range require heating to between 120-130F and 180F IIRC. The Houghton product that Brownells relabels as Tough Quench has the 11 second "sweet spot" at 150F and 13 seconds at the high and low temps. Supposedly the advantage of the Houghton #50 equivalent is that you don't have to "revitalize" it with the additive. Of course, I doubt that many of us will ever reach the stage where we need to do that. The oil will be ugly enough that we will want to replace it before them. LOL
 
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