October 5, 201114 yr http://aimkiln.com/aimcrucible1411c.htm So I just acquired one of these (scroll to model 1715C without the crucible). How will this work as a heat treating oven? It has a digital control with a couple of ramps. It is alleged to work. Didn't test it, but the new elements are around $40. At this point my HT has been very unscientific using scrap yard springs for making my tooling, heating in my NC tool propane forge and quenching in water or veg oil, mostly hardies and power hammer texturing tooling. I have started making some blades, but have yet to heat treat any yet. After most of a year blacksmithing, i'm just learning how much there is I don't even have a clue about. My continuing gratitude for those sharing their knowledge here. dw
October 7, 201114 yr Author What kind of charcoal and how much? Should I out it around the metal being heated? thanks, dw
October 28, 201114 yr If you get the fancy stainless steel foil bags you put the charcoal in the bag. Phil
October 28, 201114 yr Charcoal or other oxygen getter is needed at the higher temperatures. If it is not hot enough for scale to form or decarburisation to be any worry, then no oxygen getter is required.
October 28, 201114 yr Protection from oxygen for anything hotter than dull red (1000F) would be good, but scale starts forming at a lower temperature than that (tempering colors are very very thin layers of oxide, fire scale is much, much much thicker, and yes, FeO2(blue/black) vs Fe2O3(red)). Oven tempering at household oven temperatures should not be a problem, unless you are preserving some engravings or other polished features that were made before heat treat. If engraved then charcoal and stainless foil can be used in tempering to reduce the need for heavy polishing because of tempering colors. Of course if you plan to grind heavily then you don't need to worry about scale as much. Phil
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