Quench Oil Recomendations

Brad Lilly

Moderator and Awards Boss
Up here in Canada the chances of me getting my hands on some Parks 50 is somewhere between slim to none. I have been looking at Houghton’s products and I think Hought-Quench K is similar to Parks 50, but I’m not 100%. Anybody ever use Houghton’s oil? I’m willing to hear any opinions on the subject of quench media.
Thanks Brad
 
We use Haughton Qunch K. For the first year and a half great. For the last 6 months, some challenges. I've ordered fresh as well as some polymer quechant.
 
A year and a half seams like a short life span for quench oil. Then again you must have quenched a lot of blades in theat time.
 
Not so many as you might think. Our expertise is with the air quench stuff - and we only do the oil quench stuff because it's hard to find anyone who will. In that year and a half, maybe 500 blades tops. There have been contaminants - ATP641 and Turco, not to mention some temperature variations that may have caused condensation. If I really got 500 blades, that's about 20 cents per blade. Not complainin'.

Heat treating has been a huge learning curve and I can't thank people like Kevin Cashen, Scott Raven and Mike Kelly enough for their help. I've learned to test every blade - just because a formula worked last month doesn't mean it's guaranteed this month. That little demon the "extraneous variable" keeps creeping in and he's damn near invisible! Look at my tagline. It is SO TRUE!

Rob!
 
I've ordered fresh as well as some polymer quechant.
If you don't mind me asking what are you looking at with respect to a polymer based quenchant. I'm a little concerned about the lifespan of the Haughton's.
 
Polymer quench was a recomendation from Haughton for our faster quench applications. I'll have to do some testing before I can comment on it (or use it on customer blades). I suspect it's a common mistake to not see quenchant as a consumeable. Some companies offer a sort of rejuvenator additive to extend the life of quenchant. Some of the degrading will be from use, but some will also be from (for instance) humidity exposure. I'd be surprised if other quenchants were any different if tested empirically.

Rob!
 
I have been using the same pail of Houghton's K quench for the past 3 years and it has worked beautifully. I get nice hamons on the knives I clay coat. I use it for 1095, 1084 and 5160. One thing that will greatly shorten the life of your quench is edge quenching. The oil will catch fire and I think that is what shortens it life cycle. Like Rob said quench oil is a consumable product like belts for your grinder so you will eventually have to buy more.
 
Just from the books that I have, a polymer quenchant will be faster than a fast oil but not as fast, or as harsh, as water or brine. Like oil quenchants, polymers can change with repeated use and cooling rates increase with oxidation. Because these are aqueous solutions, water evaporation will change the concentration of the polymer and the rate of cooling and should be checked by monitoring the specific gravity of the solution. It's main advantage is that it cools more uniformly than water or brine and is cleaner than oil. The manufacturers should be able to tell you, if they don't list methods on the data sheet, how to monitor the specific gravity of the quenchant. You may be able to go the the web site of the manufacturer to view a data sheet.

Doug
 
Hi Brad

houghto-quench 3440 is basically quench K but not as pure... and it will be abit cheeper... around +600 for a 55gal drum... the 55gal is the minimum purchase amount ...
quench- K is quite abit more money
for polymer... theres aqua-quench C ... and you can adjust the speed of quench according to the concentration you mix it at... goes for 182 bucks a 20 liter pail ... use 15 to 20 % for shallow hardening steels

I bought mine from Haskins industrial ... in Ont .. not sure what your distributor is out there... I'd call houghton and talk with them... very very good business to deal with .... the opposite for the aholes at parks

G
 
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