Blending Versus Mixing

[Shannow]

have been thinking about the terminology being used on BITOG with respect to the practice.

Blending, I would associate with a "blender" a company/person who takes base-stocks and additive/ ingredients, blending to a desired specification or standard, verified through either testing, or an an add company's recipe book.

Mixing I would associate with what we typically do.

Using the terminology "blending" makes mixing sound more scientific than it is.

The various ASTMs seem to support this
* D6922 refers to the "miscibility", and not any performance standard post mixing.
* Appendix E refers to interchange of components by "blenders"


What say the audience ?

 

[UNC151]

To my knowledge, there are no blenders on this site--only mixers. Your thoughts are spot on.

 

[zeng]

Precise and concise .

 

[camrydriver111]

Originally Posted By: 2015_PSD
To my knowledge, there are no blenders on this site--only mixers. Your thoughts are spot on.


I think for some guys their oil knowledge is so high that when they are mixing they are actually blending.

I think we know who I am talking about.

 

[turtlevette]

I don't know. We don't have total control but we have knowledge of which oils have what. I could start with some non detergent high zddp oil then put some risilone or cd2. Because I'm the end user I have more control over the oci. So I might run 40wt redline racing oil starting in the spring. When winter hits maybe I dump a few quarts and put it in my beater and add some 5w20 to thin things out. Then a 1000 miles before I change the oil I'll dump a big slug of detergent additive in to clean things up. That way for 9000 miles of th oci ,I have no detergent's to compete with anti wear. Its actually better than blending. Its adaptive mixing.

 

[BRZED]

A professional barkeep is properly called a mixologist. Does that help?

 

[OneEyeJack]

Let me see if I understand....

So, you're a blender if you are putting individual ingredients into the soup to create a finished product, a bowl of good soup.

You're a mixer if you come home late at night and find 3 different left over soups in the frig and mix them together for a late night meal, a bowl of good soup.

In one case you know what's in the soup and maybe mess with the ingredients to get the taste just right.

In the other case you probably just pour the 3 left overs together and take what you get.

In either case you have a bowl of soup.

 

[Ducman]

Agreed.

 

[turtlevette]

The tribologist is the soup Nazi telling you not to mess with his creation.

 

[SR5]

They blend, then I mix their blends together.

 

[BRZED]

The Mixer and The Blender sound like the titles of typical Edgar Wallace novels.

 

[Olas]

Blending and Mixing are synonyms of one another, they both mean the same thing and can be used interchangeably.

We BITOG'ers use the terms in our own idiosyncratic way, but the linguistic fact is that both words describe the same action..

Signed,
Mixer, not Blender

 

[BRZED]

Originally Posted By: Olas
Blending and Mixing are synonyms of one another, they both mean the same thing and can be used interchangeably.

We BITOG'ers use the terms in our own idiosyncratic way, but the linguistic fact is that both words describe the same action..

Signed,
Mixer, not Blender

The terms are similar in meaning, but not synoymous if used properly. Blending is defined as mixing in a harmonious way, so every blend is a mixture, but not every mixture is a blend.

 

[mjoekingz28]

Blend in?

Mix up?

 

[Garak]

Originally Posted By: 2015_PSD
To my knowledge, there are no blenders on this site--only mixers.

Well, there are about three that I can think of right off the top of my head that would qualify, but I don't want to miss any.

 

[weasley]

Originally Posted By: 2015_PSD
To my knowledge, there are no blenders on this site--only mixers. Your thoughts are spot on.


I have blended thousands of oils in the past, using additives and base oils. I know of others here who have too.

There are few blenders on this site (although many more who believe they are).

 

[userfriendly]

A person only needs two engine oils in their stash... 0W20, SAE50 and a Bolivian calculator.

 

[UNC151]

Originally Posted By: weasley
Originally Posted By: 2015_PSD
To my knowledge, there are no blenders on this site--only mixers. Your thoughts are spot on.
I have blended thousands of oils in the past, using additives and base oils. I know of others here who have too. There are few blenders on this site (although many more who believe they are).
I think that depends on your definition of blender versus mixer. Here are mine and feel free to comment otherwise:

Blender - an individual or group (typically a commercial venture) who takes semi-finished or finished base stocks or oil and adds proprietary or public domain components to said stocks or oil to create a unique product. In addition, said blender either certifies/tests the oil in accordance with industry accepted standards and warranties said oil to meet those standards. Warren Oil comes to mind as a blender.

Mixer - an individual who takes finished oil (typically retail bottled oil) and mixes them together to create a unique product. Oil is not tested nor certified to meet any standard and there is no warranty implied or stated regarding said oil. Joe Smith comes to mind as a mixer; e.g. he takes a bottle of Mobil 1 Advanced Fuel Economy 0W-20 and mixes it with Castrol Edge 5w30 and creates a 5W-20 batch of untested/uncertified oil. He runs said oil for a number of miles and throws a $30 used oil analysis at it and proclaims it is the best thing since Amsoil created synthetic oil.


See the difference?

 

[Nate1979]

I think you guys are trying to make the point that most of the people on this site are just mixing this and that without proof of the outcome. Thats true. We dont need some artificially created definitions to make that point.

A blender is someone who mixes two components to make a third. This is both an industrial and personal term. How much they know about the final outcome just relates to the ptofessionalism or requirement of the person doing the blending.

A mixer is someone who mixes two things together. It means the exact same thing but does not seem to be a term used in the industry to describe what is done.

In the end the point is that without data you are a blender with no proof of the exact performance of the blend.

 

[fdcg27]

Using the terms as you've used them, a blender is either a buyer or a maker of commercial basestocks and add packs.
As such, he has almost perfect access to information relevant to formulating a finished oil using these components that will meet a specific set of standards.
Those of us who mix finished oils have access to very little information WRT the interactions of the components of the two or more oils involved.
Therein lies the distinction.
When we mix, we guess, maybe with the aid of a viscosity calculator known to be faulty at the lower end of the temperature scale.
We know almost nothing about add pack compatibility.
We can only hope for the best and will almost certainly end up with an oil inferior to that of any of the finished oils comprising the mix.
I'll still mix oils to use up odds and ends for a shortish warm weather OCI in one of the old beaters.