[TheForge] oil temps (one more time)

[Bruce Freeman]

Go out and buy a cylinder of "intert" gas, such as carbon dioxide (a
good choice because it's heavy) and blanket the surface of the oil
container with that.  (A CO2 extinguisher you don't plan to use to put
out fires, perhaps because it's out of spec on pressure, could be a
cheap source of CO2.)  Total oxygen exclusion is not necessary.

However, if the quenching is done properly, the flash hazard is
minimal anyway.  It's when you pull metal OUT of a quench tank while
it's still above the flash temp of the oil that you are asking for
trouble.

On Sun, Nov 21, 2010 at 2:13 AM, James Binnion <jbin at well.com> wrote:
>
> On Nov 20, 2010, at 9:58 PM, Bruce Freeman wrote:
>
>>
>> Vegetable oil might not be the "best" quenching oil, but it's cheap
>> and non-polluting.  So what if it goes rancid?  Rancidity won't hurt
>> the quench.  I seriously doubt you'll see any significant change to
>> the physical properties anytime soon.  And when you do, take the 5
>> gallons of oil and turn it into soap for your shop, and buy another 5
>> gallons of fresh oil.
>>
>
> My understanding is he is going to heat a few gallons of the oil (electrically) to 375F to temper the blade after quenching. My concern would be fire hazard more than anything else. But as Steve pointed out it is similar to a deep fat fryer, so as long as the heat control is reliable hopefully it should be no problem.
>
> James Binnion
> jbin at well.com
>
>
>
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-- 
Bruce
NJ