I'm thinking about changing my cooling fluid from water soluble oil to regular oil. I've been using Rustlik w/o problems, no rancidity even after one year (I have an air supply bubbling through it 24/7). I'm just tired of having to wipe everything down at the end of the day, getting it all dry, then having to coat the table and vice with regular oil. I get very little time in the shop and the clean up takes a good portion of that time. Also, I sometimes have the vice mounted for extended periods and on removing it there will be a lot of surface rust to deal with.

So I figure if I switch to regular cooling oil, rust and corrosion shouldn't be a problem and I'll save a lot of time. I know water soluble is cheaper but that's not an issue. My greatest concern is safety. I remember years ago running kerosene for some Al work. It worked great, beautiful surface finish, but produced a mist of kerosene that so much looked like a fuel-air bomb. This time I'm not planning on kero, but would be using cutting fluid formulated for the task. Am I worrying about a nonexistent problem?

Thanks