Nice smelling cutting oil

Just a quick question to push the spammers further down the list.

I was using soluble cutting oil last night and suddenly thought it didn't smell as nice as the stuff we used to use at school. That wonderful sweet "engineering" smell that stayed with you and on your clothes - bit like smelling of smoke when you used to leave the pub only much more pleasant!

Can anyone please tell me what it was? Name, brand and supplier would be really appreciated. Much more likely however will be to hear of the possible /probable hazards of using something that smells like it should be doing you some good.

Bob

Its probably banned under H and S rules now, there are so many chemicals in cutting oil now.

I do remember that smell as i would get soaked in it from the drilling/tapping machine.

Clive

Was that not just the Hai-Karate, or splash it all over 'enry Brut33 you guys were wearing back then?

Potent stuff...irresistible to women

It was a bactericide/fungicide called 'Thymol'. It was also used in a toothpaste. Since it was a 'cide' it is probably banned by the 'Gnomes' of 'Elfin Safety'

Thymol is what I use to treat my Bees for Varroa, it is mixed with wood alcohol and then put it in a sugar solution and is fed to the bees in the spring and autumn.

I can smell it when working the bees.

It is not used during the honey collecting period as it is possible it could get in the honey.

If you want Thymol crystals they can be bought from Thornes (Beekeeping).

The wood alcohol I cannot say where to get it unless you have a licence, though possibly a phamacist may let you have a few ounces if explained to them.

Clive

Thymol is what it sounds like, an essential oil distlled from the leaves of the herb thyme. Perhaps tehre is a synthetic form around these days, but it has medicinal uses.

Neil

I've looked up thymol and it seems to be considered as either a good antiseptic or not very nice depending on who you believe on google. Apparently it is also in mouthwash. My original thought was simply to re-create the memory of the smell of cutting oil that I remembered from school.

Perhaps I'll try putting some thyme or even Listerine in with my cutting oil. If I end up with rust all over the lathe I'll know it was a mistake!

Thanks for the replies,

Bob

Bob I would not try anything like that.

One should remember that ‘Elfin Safety’ and your local council ‘Safety Manager’ have a duty laid on them (by Parliament in the case of the ‘Elfin’ mob) to keep you safe. This is done whether you want to be safe or not.

They can ‘deem’ anything as ‘unsafe’ and can forbid it. If they do there is naff-all you can do about it unless you have some £30K to throw away. They know this and take advantage of it.

These folk have ‘targets’ or ‘norms’ for ‘abatement of unsafe practices’ that they must achieve. So they are always under pressure to achieve.

Remember 'Big Brother' is watching you

rdgs

Dick

p.s. Tha tis one of the reasons I left 'Ole England' Here I have a room (in my deeds) called 'Munka Szoba fem' (work room - metal) and another 'Munka Szoba fa' (work room - wood)

Hi Bob,

Thymol is also available as an 'essential oil' which should be a lot friendlier than Listerine!

As regards H&S, don't worry. The regs only apply to the workplace (Health and Safety at Work Act) not your own hobby workshop - leave the paranoia to others and stay in the UK where it is (relatively) easy to get materials etc

Best regards

Terry

Iv been unsing a bulk oil thats simular to wd40 as a cutting lubricant and it smells of coconuts its brilliant the workshop smells like a giant mechanical bounty.

At the College all we did was to add a little bleach to the suds.

Jo

Tried that but it seems to promote rust.

Russell.

Hi There

Throw some disinfectant in to the suds.

Stops the bacteria breaking it down and keeps it smelling sweet.

regards David

Hi David,

Thymol is a bacteriacide and does the same job, apparently that's what madee the old suds smell so nice,

Regards

Terry

Thanks again everyone - I have just ordered some thymol from Thornes (rec by Clive) so I'll give it a go.

Sweeter smelling machining and if it doesn't work I'll just have to take up bee keeping!

Bob

Bob, remember the Thymol will not dissolve in water and needs alcohol to dissolve.

You will not need much to do it and suggest say half teaspoonfull to 2oz of alcohol, it can be stored in a sealed container but do not imbibe it yourself.

The application rate is 1 teaspoon to 2 liters, work it out from that and it is also pungent and will smell all around!

Clive

Bob, Clive et al ,

Can't say where you'de get Wood alcohol, it's not listed in "Martindale" which is the pharmacists bible of what's available world wide.

However if it needs an alcohol either isopropyl would do or surgical spirit ( ethanol with a bit of methanol and castor oil thrown in so it's toxic if you drink it ) or methanol ( "Meths" this just has (from memory) Pyrogallol added to it to make it more toxic and give it a purple colour to put you off drinking it).

I suggest using surgical spirit as the castor oil and methanol won't hurt machines. Dissolve it in this and add to your suds SLOWLY so it's dispersed into the liquid. That way although you're diluting the alcohol and it will start to crystalise out, there should be soo much water around that it will mix in. Thymol does dissolve in the oil phase of the suds quite readily so shouldn't be too mich issue.

Personally use neat cutting oil although I add about 25% parafin to give it some cooling effect. Seems to work OK for me, does pong though not as bad as suds gone off.

Good luck Ian

I've got some isopropyl alcohol downstairs somewhere so I'll try and find it and see what happens. It's out of date? 1997 but some wine improves with age so what the hell - worth a go. I spose it's better than drinking it.

Personally I find the delicate odour of parafin a bit whiffy especially in the house - I don't think I would be very popular. As for pyrogallol - that takes me back to the days of A level chemistry and this started off as a thread to try and improve smells!

Thanks for the tips,
Bob

Wood alcohol is turpentine.

Sorry to diagree with you Alan but the information I've seen gives methanol (methyl alcohol) as the chemical name for wood alcohol.

Turpentine is a distillate of pine resin, and the solid residue from that is rosin as in flux etc.

Also turpentine is used in some medicines, wood alcohol is toxic!

Keith