Calkidd Posted November 5, 2021 Share Posted November 5, 2021 I found this locally and they are asking $100. Will this work to heat treat knives, granted if it works? I am so new at knife making I am trying to learn. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted November 5, 2021 Share Posted November 5, 2021 One of the guys in our club, Teenylittlemetalguy, uses a kiln for tempering and precision heat treating but IIRC he had to do more than just turn the temp down. I believe it required some rewiring to get it cool enough for steel. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calkidd Posted November 5, 2021 Author Share Posted November 5, 2021 Ok, I thought this kiln being digital would allow to set the temperature. Are you saying the temperature can not be set low enough? Excuse the ignorance, IIRC? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted November 5, 2021 Share Posted November 5, 2021 IIRC = "If I Recall Correctly" Kilns for ceramics are designed to work at much higher temperatures than those for heat treating steel. The digital controller looks very nice, but I would recommend you contact Paragon and ask what is the lowest temperature at which this kiln can operate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rojo Pedro Posted November 5, 2021 Share Posted November 5, 2021 That kiln will work just fine. We have the same controller on ours and it is very programable. I want to say mine is max 1850f but will hold, ramp and cycle any temp you want. We just got ours and I have been having alot of fun fusing glass. Havent used it to heat treat yet. Mine is much bigger and the glass firing schedules are quite long and the wife is hoarding the time. Fused glass goes through annealing and tempering cycles too. Usually hold 900f for an hour the cool at 100f per hour to 700f then cool as slow as possible to room temp. Afterwards, the glass object (coe96 glass) will bounce on the tile floor like a super ball! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted November 5, 2021 Share Posted November 5, 2021 Rojo Pedro, how low can you set the temperature? 410° is about the coolest you'd need for heat treatment; if the kiln can hold something that low, I'd say this is a slam dunk. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rojo Pedro Posted November 5, 2021 Share Posted November 5, 2021 No minimum temp on the controller. Accuracy at lower temps may be an issue but I doubt it. Seems fairly sophisticated and you can hear the relay cycling at very short intervals when holding temps, higher temps anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calkidd Posted November 5, 2021 Author Share Posted November 5, 2021 2 hours ago, JHCC said: Rojo Pedro, how low can you set the temperature? 410° is about the coolest you'd need for heat treatment; if the kiln can hold something that low, I'd say this is a slam dunk. Are you referingn to tempering? Heat treat is at a much higher temp. It looks like this might be the ticket. Now if I can get the seller to reply to my messages Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted November 5, 2021 Share Posted November 5, 2021 Heat treatment includes hardening, tempering, annealing, normalizing, and subcritical annealing, as well as cryotreatment. Any process that changes a steel object’s physical properties solely through changing its temperature is technically a heat treatment. The 410°F given above refers to the lowest temperature for tempering (pale straw). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted November 5, 2021 Share Posted November 5, 2021 I'm sorry but tempering is a variety of heat treat, as is annealing, cryo quenching, normalizing and hardening. So heat treating of iron alloys can go from -320 degF to almost around 2900 degF nudging the melting point(s) of various alloys. And John beat me to it...he must be using wetter clay and a more pointy stylus! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calkidd Posted November 5, 2021 Author Share Posted November 5, 2021 See, thus the reason I am here. Thank you for the clarification. I figured if the kiln will get my higher temp heat treat then I could use an Easy Bake oven to temper. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted November 5, 2021 Share Posted November 5, 2021 I'd worry about the temp cycle on the Easy Bake! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buzzkill Posted November 5, 2021 Share Posted November 5, 2021 You also may find the size and shape of that kiln somewhat limiting for blade work. If you only intend to make relatively small knives it will probably be fine. Larger blades may not fit well in it. However, if it's in working order I'd probably snap that up for $100. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calkidd Posted November 5, 2021 Author Share Posted November 5, 2021 11 minutes ago, ThomasPowers said: I'd worry about the temp cycle on the Easy Bake! I just need to be careful not to melt the plastic push stick. 4 minutes ago, Buzzkill said: You also may find the size and shape of that kiln somewhat limiting for blade work. If you only intend to make relatively small knives it will probably be fine. Larger blades may not fit well in it. However, if it's in working order I'd probably snap that up for $100. Well right now I am thinking of doing blades around 8" overall. But like you said for $100, if it works, heck yeah. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted November 5, 2021 Share Posted November 5, 2021 Cooking ovens are known for cycling from too cold to too hot around their set temperature with the lower the quality often correlated with the greater the cycle range. Their are methods to deal with this---like the container of sand with a thermometer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted November 7, 2021 Share Posted November 7, 2021 Isn't the heat source in an Easy Bake oven a light bulb or have they advanced since my little Sister got one for Christmas cir. 1964? Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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