What kind of heat treating equipment is used professionally? I know about using weed torches and fire brick to do it yourself at home, but I'm curious about what the professional equipment to do this consists of. I've seen some furnaces in Enco catalogs, but I wasn't quite sure what I was looking at.
So what's the professional heat treating setup usually consist of? Is the tempering done in the same furnace as everything else?
Lastly, suppose I bought some of this equipment, would it be any more possible for me to heat treat some of the premium stainless steels with this than it would be with a torch and firebrick? I think in terms of heat some steels wouldn't have got hot enough, but I've heard of things like "cryo tempering" which seems like it's something I would have to get done by an actual professional whether I had professional equipment or not. You know, that whole separation between tools and knowledge.
Anyway, just wondering if I should invest in a good furnace or just have my pieces sent off for heat treat. Having them sent off is kind of spendy, and in a little way it kind of removes from part of the reason I want to make knives---I like the idea of doing it all myself.
The other thing I'm curious about is belt grinders...
Do you guys put these together yourselves, or do you buy them as kits? What's the typical start up cost? Electrical demands? Cost and life of the belts? Do you find it useful for production volume, or would you use it over hand files even if you you weren't production-oriented?
I don't think I'm going to buy any of this stuff right away as my work space probably can't support them. My garage has got people's stuff all over the place, carpeting, and an electrical setup that I worry about even running space heaters, so I don't think a belt grinder or a heat treating furnace is very ideal in this setting, but I just want to know some more about them.
I think it would at least be cool to get a belt grinder setup, at least that way I could finish several knives at once to get heat treated and not feel like I'm wasting money. As I said though, I wonder if my working space can even handle the electrical and saftey demands. I had some problems even running 30 amps through the electrical wiring in this garage over the winter, so I really doubt that I'm going to be able to use any of this equipment until a little later down the line when I've got a good work shop.
Anyway, just looking for some general advise on getting started at home and maybe a little knowledge about these pieces of equipment if it's even feasible for me to run them at home.
So what's the professional heat treating setup usually consist of? Is the tempering done in the same furnace as everything else?
Lastly, suppose I bought some of this equipment, would it be any more possible for me to heat treat some of the premium stainless steels with this than it would be with a torch and firebrick? I think in terms of heat some steels wouldn't have got hot enough, but I've heard of things like "cryo tempering" which seems like it's something I would have to get done by an actual professional whether I had professional equipment or not. You know, that whole separation between tools and knowledge.
Anyway, just wondering if I should invest in a good furnace or just have my pieces sent off for heat treat. Having them sent off is kind of spendy, and in a little way it kind of removes from part of the reason I want to make knives---I like the idea of doing it all myself.
The other thing I'm curious about is belt grinders...
Do you guys put these together yourselves, or do you buy them as kits? What's the typical start up cost? Electrical demands? Cost and life of the belts? Do you find it useful for production volume, or would you use it over hand files even if you you weren't production-oriented?
I don't think I'm going to buy any of this stuff right away as my work space probably can't support them. My garage has got people's stuff all over the place, carpeting, and an electrical setup that I worry about even running space heaters, so I don't think a belt grinder or a heat treating furnace is very ideal in this setting, but I just want to know some more about them.
I think it would at least be cool to get a belt grinder setup, at least that way I could finish several knives at once to get heat treated and not feel like I'm wasting money. As I said though, I wonder if my working space can even handle the electrical and saftey demands. I had some problems even running 30 amps through the electrical wiring in this garage over the winter, so I really doubt that I'm going to be able to use any of this equipment until a little later down the line when I've got a good work shop.
Anyway, just looking for some general advise on getting started at home and maybe a little knowledge about these pieces of equipment if it's even feasible for me to run them at home.
