Cutting fluid for drilling holes?

[Gleanerdawg]

An old blacksmiths trick of the trade and what I prefer is lard mixed with cutting oil. I have it in a can with a plastic lid,cut a hole and stick a small paint brush handle out through the lid. Winter time you need more oil,mix just anough to stick to brush but not drip off. Then touch to hole or warm drill bit. Works great for cutting threads or parting off on a lather.

 

[nspec]

An old blacksmiths trick of the trade and what I prefer is lard mixed with cutting oil. I have it in a can with a plastic lid,cut a hole and stick a small paint brush handle out through the lid. Winter time you need more oil,mix just anough to stick to brush but not drip off. Then touch to hole or warm drill bit. Works great for cutting threads or parting off on a lather.

Just like my Crisco. Glad to hear I'm not the only one using it! It also works well on the angle grinder. I coat the disc with it before and during if I have a lot of grinding to do. More so with aluminum, but it keeps the metal from clogging up the disc.

 

[Shmudda]

Good old Blaster works the best, and you can find it anywhere.

 

[Johnp33]

I use plain water, you want the tool cool, I have drilled a frame rail that was a blank and used the same bit front to back. I use a pail of water, it catches a lot of the chips and the drill bit will stay sharp. Using cutting fluids to me it stinks and makes a mess in the work area. I use to use a 1/8, then a 1/4, then a 3/8, and reams after that.

 

[bindian]

I use Boelube on my drill bits.
hugs, Brandi

 

[Mace Canute]

An old blacksmiths trick of the trade and what I prefer is lard mixed with cutting oil. I have it in a can with a plastic lid,cut a hole and stick a small paint brush handle out through the lid. Winter time you need more oil,mix just anough to stick to brush but not drip off. Then touch to hole or warm drill bit. Works great for cutting threads or parting off on a lather.

Yep! Lard oil, preferably made from non salted lard, will rival and/or beat just about any modern product on the market for ferrous work.

 

[Dennis Mickle]

I have a machine shop. What I use is Grizzly #1413 cutting and tap oil. I always use bees wax when I do somthing that I don't want to get messy.

 

[300UGUY]

Yep! Lard oil, preferably made from non salted lard, will rival and/or beat just about any modern product on the market for ferrous work.

I worked in machining, and a lot of the older coolants contained animal fats, probably lard. The fat provides lubricity. The fat was pretty well dispersed, tho you could see it if it had been setting for very long. It also smelled pretty bad after awhile. I've used Tap magic, and Tap Majic for aluminium, but for tapping only. You also don't want to breathe it either. Cool tool is another brand. Water soluble stuff is sold by different distributors. I haved used Crisco for tapping quite a bit, and it works great. I sometimes used old motor oil a a drilling coolant. Most of my tractor projects aren't hurt by some oil on them.

 

[LD1]

I found a link to the stuff we have at work that I like.

JTS Machinery & Supply Co.

It seems pretty thick and tacky. Really nice for parting stuff on the lathe, or drilling holes, because this stuff clings to the tool pretty well.

But if given a choice, flood cooling, or even mist cooling is better IMO than cutting oil.

We use this stuff I linked, but also have pleanty of stock of buttercut, tapmagic, liquid wrench, and just plane 20w oil as well.

Bottom line though...anything is better than nothing:thumbsup:

 

[rd_macgregor]

I do relatively little metal drilling, so haven't run into cases where I need much more than a dab or two of oil (I use 3-in-1). If this is solely for bit cooling purposes though (ie, lubrication isn't an issue), then couldn't you cool the bit with a compressed-air stream directed right at the contact point of the bit and work piece? Or, would it be really bad to have sharp metal curlies flying around the shop?

BOB