Metal working lubricant

A process for producing a lubricating agent for use in metal working which consists of the steps of:

• admixing components (I), (II), (III), and (IV),
• Component (I) consisting of 1 to 40 percent by weight of a salt or an amide of an acid which is a member selected from the group consisting of
• (a) an aliphatic mono- or di-carboxylic acid of 8 to 22 carbon atoms
• (b) a dimer or a trimer of said aliphatic mono- or di-carboxylic acid defined in (a) hereinabove,
• (c) a petroleum sulfonic acid, and
• (d) a naphthenic acid;
• said salt being with an alkali metal, an alkaline earth metal, or with an amine or alkanolamine of 1-24 carbon atoms, said amide being with an amine or alkanolamine of 1-24 carbon atoms;
• Component (II) being 0.1 to 20 percent by weight of an alkylene glycol of formula HO--C.sub.n H.sub.2 n.sub.O).sub.m H where m is an integer of 1 to 3, and n is an integer of 3 to 10;
• Component (III) being 1 to 50 percent by weight of water;
• and
• Component (IV) being a mineral oil, a synthetic lubricant, a fat, a fatty oil, or a combination thereof in an amount sufficient to make up the balance of the agent;
• agitating and homogenizing the resulting mixture, whereby component (III) is caused to solubilize in the agent.