Contaminating Quench Oils

Knifemaker.ca

Dealer - Purveyor
I have a question about proper care and maintenance of quench oils. I know it is important to protect them from condensation and to minimize flare ups, especially from edge quenching. My current thoughts are related to antiscale compounds like ATP41 or Turco. Do they degrade the oil, or are they pretty much inert by the time they are 'cooked' and just sink to the bottom. Does occasional filtering the oil help?

Rob!
 
I have a question about proper care and maintenance of quench oils. I know it is important to protect them from condensation and to minimize flare ups, especially from edge quenching. My current thoughts are related to antiscale compounds like ATP41 or Turco. Do they degrade the oil, or are they pretty much inert by the time they are 'cooked' and just sink to the bottom. Does occasional filtering the oil help?

Rob!

I'm sorry Rob, I prefer to let other folks have the opportunity to help out and answer questions when I can, but it doesn't look like you are going to get a lot of responses as quickly as you may like, so I will help out if I can. Most of the things that you're discussing sound pretty inert and will not get too chemically involved with the oil. High temp salts would have a greater chance of affecting chemistry and I regularly drain the oil off the top off the little scales of salts built up on the bottom of my tank and clean it out. Heavy particulates like this are very nice in that they readily sink to the bottom and stay our of your way until you can clean them out. Light particles that will remain in suspension are a different level of trouble for you. You have a quenchant that was carefully engineered to the do the job better than anything else, obviously any changes to it could affect its performance, keeping it clean and as close to the condition that it was shipped from the manufacturer is the best route to take. You are correct that moisture is the greatest threat, followed by anything that chemically changes the oil, like overheating it or flashing it, but the artifacts of that are the nasty Little soot particles that remain suspended in the oil. If ones oil was clear when they got it and now it is black, that is a obvious change that is undeniable big enough to effect its properties. In comparison to all of this, inert little flakes sitting out of the way on the bottom of the tank waiting to be removed are pretty tame, clean them out as often as you can and keep enjoying the oil.
 
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Thanks Kevin

I was hoping you would chime in. Things like P50 and DT48 are so carefully formulated and clearly, it doesn't take much to turn them into the equivalent of old engine oil. I don't think I treated the Haughton Quench K well, since it worked well at first and deteriorated over time. I have a tough decision in front of me in deciding which quench oil to use, since I'm getting both P50 and DT48. I'm thinking I'm going to try DT48 first because this company has bent over backwards to serve knife makers, including this special formulation.

I have a friend making me an agitated 10 gallon quech tank and I will track the results.

Thanks so much for the input.
 
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