Drilling 304 stainless w/ crisco oil

Run a test. It seems unlikely that he's right, but you'll never know until you try it. You seem to know food chemistry so you know that what you're dealing with is a moderately saturated mix of vegetable oils that have been stiffened (and partially protected against rancidity) by hydrogenation. It doesn't sound like anything that would improve its properties for cutting metal, but, hey, give it a try.
As for lard, bacon fat, etc.: The thing that stiffens *them* is stearin. The thing that helps metal cutting is the lard oil that's mixed in with the stearin. When they make lard oil for various purposes (including cutting oil), all they do is extract the lard oil from the stearin.
-- Ed Huntress

Years ago we used sunflower oil for threading on lathes. Than you couldn't get a better finish than that. Jerry

--Try Moly Dee. There's another one that's water soluble, turquoise in color, but the name escapes me..

"Proctologically Violated©®" wrote in news:4a86cc1c$0$22505$ snipped-for-privacy@cv.net:
I had a friend (recently passed away, dammit) who always used Crisco shortening in the little blue can. He was a custom free-lance machinist, silversmith, metal artist and all-round amazing guy. Any time he needed a litte extra cash, he made specialized tools for some orthopedic surgeons at Mass General Hospital in Boston. They paid big bucks & everything was in various stainless alloys. He had a small can of Crisco ready to hand at all times. He'd cut a hole in the center of the plastic lid about an inch an a half in diameter, and kept a small acid brush in it. I remember stopping by one day & he was mulling over getting a new can out. The one he'd been using for the previous 5 or 10 years was getting low & the Crisco was a little fuggly. It was full of chips and had gone a bit grey & translucent. It hadn't spoiled exactly, but it certainly looked past its prime.
Doug White

Crisco works great on aluminum but I never tried it on stainless. If Crisco works Pam in the spray can may also work. I know Pam works good on aluminum too.
John

lol Lard will be sticky, like bacon grease, and will stink.(prolly not as bad as tap magic?)
Years ago people used crisco to tap mostly, and to also drill small holes. The reason is the crisco starts out all puffy and goopy. Hangs on to a tap or a drill good. But when it gets room temperature plus a few degrees down near the cutting area it turns into a liquid almost, and flows at the right speed to the cutting area. But it sux for a cutting fluid. If you get the semi new "tap magic thick", its does the same thing as the crisco, with the added benefit of being a good cutting fluid. They even have a stainless version of the stuff now.
Also, back in the 70's there was crisco oil everywhere. Everyone was fry daddying everything they could. There were empty crisco cans in your grandfathers basement full of useless bolts and screws, in your grandma's wash room, etc... Damn commercial was on 3 times a day.
I bet in the 70's people brought crisco to work just in case they thought up a use for it. .

rescuesite.com/
I have seen this. Vegetable oils work well for cutting almost anything. It is "slicker" than mineral oils. I remember reading about how vegetable oils are better at transfering heat also. Just clean out the Fadal's tank & fill it with vegetable oil....I have always wanted to try that.

I use the white shortening to tap steel. It is a long chain and provides lots of protection and slip.
Does a nice job. Used to jam (micro weld) taps.
Martin
Proctologically Violated=A9=AE wrote:

Vinny -
Crisco isn't lard. It is Vege grease.
Read a can.
Martin
v> "Proctologically Violated=A9=AE" wrote in me= ssage=20

So the morel of the story is: Dont Machine Dry Any type of "monkey piss" will work when drilling/reaming/milling if necessary, & w/o the availabilty of high tech space age polymer store bought eco friendly hyped up B/S that dont work anyway because they took all the good shit out, because a freekin lab rat got cancer on his left nut -- fer krisakes. Damn Cool Tool anit even cool tool any more- just like freekin OFF, damn misquotes aint even fazzed with 25% Deet. Found the Deep Woods Off with 98% Deet at the local ACE - good shit Menard!
Old timers used what was available - basicaly sulfer sludge- anit nothing wrong with that. It worked great! smelled like shit. gave real nice red rash skin irratations. You could tell by walking by someone that worked in a Screw Machine Shop. That Smell.........
Anyway I think 304 SS machines like "butter". Unstable is all hell- you will chase part warp forever!
I have found taping Titanium 6AL4V is a bitch. This is one material that top notch cutting fluid is VERY important on when taping.

rescuesite.com/
How much do you wanna bet that Yoni has already gone out & bought some Crisco to try next time he works with stainless. All to be added to the infamous notebooks full of machining tips...such as using anti- seize when using a flat head cap screw.

Vinny -
Crisco isn't lard. It is Vege grease.
Read a can.
****Maybe you should read a post before posting like a fool? Crisco is vegetable shortning, I can remember the commercial. However, I was not refering to crisco as lard?
That's what I was refering to..
read a post.
Martin
Try reading the whole post before jumping on a chance to look intelligent at someone elses expence nextime.
v>> Awl --

I've used lard, which in the local Mexican mercado, is called manteca.
I'd think it'd be about like Crisco, so I recommend Crisco because my cousin, the farmer, raises soybeans. :-)
And Crisco shouldn't stink so bad when it goes rancid. :-)
Cheers! Rich