I have used your method of heating oil, by dipping a pre heated piece of steel into the oil. But as I have read and thought about this I believe another method I have used is a better option. If you have an oxy acetylene torch, use a large tip or rose bud tip to preheat your tank, assuming your tank is steel. I also use a high quality quenching oil to heat treat with. My concern with using a pre heated piece of steel is that each time you put a hot piece of steel in the oil you may be wearing the oil out. Maybe this is not a concern, but to my knowledge oil wont last forever, and the more times you quench in it the shorter the life of the oil, and the more room for error in the finished product. Maybe this is bad advise, so I would love to hear more from the more experienced members of our group.

I use a bucket heater. Works great.

Erik,

Bucket heater? Just curious, what kind and where do we get one?

Ed C.

I have used the steel method with a thermometer to read the oil temp. It works and as long as you do not overheat the oil, think flame up, it is not really hurting the oil. You can also use an electric hot plate. I primarily use parks50 and heat it to around 80 to 90 degrees. However this summer have not had to heat it much. For 5160 I would suggest canola or peanut oil, heated to 100 to 120. Wal Mart has five gallon containers of it. It is also much less hazardous to your health than used motor oil and a much better quenchant.

Brion

http://www.datrepareerikzelfwel.nl/winkel/artikel/6990/dompelaar-2000w-electra-46830?gclid=CJ_17eCulrkCFYy23god7X0Asw

Someting like this.

I got away from the heated bar of steel method of warming my oil because of the degree of thermal mass it involves. Blades don't bother the oil, but I would also have to quench about 20 of them to get my oil up to 130F. The mass of thermal energy required to get the oil up to temp in one heat is very dramatic and tends to oxidize the oil and increase saponification (for lack of a better word). If using a heated bar, several heats at a lower temp are much better than one that could ever produce flame. Of course we are talking about motor oil here, so no harm, no foul, but if one has an investment in a good heat treating oil, you will want to take care of it.

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I have used the steel method with a thermometer to read the oil temp. It works and as long as you do not overheat the oil, think flame up, it is not really hurting the oil. You can also use an electric hot plate. I primarily use parks50 and heat it to around 80 to 90 degrees. However this summer have not had to heat it much. For 5160 I would suggest canola or peanut oil, heated to 100 to 120. Wal Mart has five gallon containers of it. It is also much less hazardous to your health than used motor oil and a much better quenchant.

Brion

Brion, what would you suggest for O-1?

Hello Cheyenne. Canola will work for O1 also. However to get the best performance out of O1 you will need to soak the blade at temperature, say five to ten minutes at 1475 to 1500. O1 is a good steel, it just requires more care on the heat treating.

Brion

Ok, thanks Brion. <img src=' http://www.americanbladesmith.com/ipboard/public/style_emoticons//smile.gi f' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':)' />

I use my torch on the outside of my container, I have a long candy thermometer in the oil. My buddy uses a water heating element.