heat treat oven

I have the paragon km14d...i dont do blades much longer than 15" fulltang, so this is fine for me...plus its 110v so its easy to move around. Only about 100 pounds. Its been a breeze. I read the directions once and set my programs for my steel and have nothing but good things to say about it. I have only had it about a year or less, though... :P Heres a pic or two:
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i thought maybe being 110 it would cost on the electric bill. have you seen much diff. on your bill
 
Nah, im a part time maker, so for the amount of blades i do a year, i dont see much of a spike in the bills.....I tend to do a few at once, as well. I can fit 2-3 smaller blades in at once. Ill do a 1095 and 0-1 and just do the 1095 first since it doesnt need a long soak, then by the time its in the oven tempering, the o-1 has soaked...

If youre wired for 220, id go with that. i bought this before i owned a home, so couldnt rewire my shop. Im considering looking into if this can be rewired with new elements for 220 just to increase ramp times. I think the 110v takes a bit longer to get up to temp. I set mine and do something while it heats up. zero to 1500 usually takes maybe 25 mins or a bit longer, but dont quote me on this....
 
If you own a Mecedes, buy the papragon. If you figure your chevy does everything you need it to and don't care about oven envy - get the evenheat. If you are in the States, Tim Zowada will do good by you. There may be others that can do even better.

Rob!
 
One thing I would add, be sure to keep odd combustables away from your heat treat oven, on long soaks things touching the Paragon can get pretty hot. Never had a fire, but this is a good caution to be aware of.
 
I've got an Evenheat and would recommend it to anyone. I bought it from Tim Zowada. Good man to deal with.
 
Here is another vote for the Evenheat. I bought an Evenheat for a couple of reasons. The first was that I detested the drop down door on the Paragon. Having my arms hanging over 1900 F bricks while removing blades from the oven was not appealing. The Evenheat opens from the side. Second, it was quite a bit cheaper at the time and with the Rampmaster II controller, it is the cat's meow. I have the 18" model, which gives me lots of flexibility.

Having said the above, there is one thing I really like about the Paragon: it is built to much sturdier physically specifications than the Evenheat. However, if you have the oven in a solid, accessible location, it should never be an issue. I got mine from Tim Zowada and it has performed flawlessly.
 
I have had an Evenheat with analog controls for about 15-16 years, replaced element once and other than that...no problems. I do run a pyrometer with it to monitor temps a little closer than the gauge on it due to heat treating so close to 2000 degrees (1950-1975) where the foil can bond to the steel if you are not careful let alone the steel damage issues. The digital controlled units should be better. I have thought about upgrading but then again if it's not broken.....
 
got an evenheat also with the setpro controller
love it
only thing i would change would be making the door stronger its not bad just i know it can and will be better after i work on it
 
We recently had a paragon just like TicTock's donated to the bladesmithing school. It's really a nice unit and easy to use. I like it.
 
Either will heat up your metal and control the temperature efficiently, so it really depends on what your goals are. If you're going production or doing this full-time, get a 220v oven with some capacity. If you're a hobbyist with a day job, the Paragon kmd14 is a great little oven. I just do knifemaking as a hobby, and have no extra 220 circuits, and don't feel like wiring any, so the little Paragon is perfect for me. As I right this, I have a blade icing that I just heated in it. Yeah, it took almost an hour to heat up to 1975 degrees, but the heck with it...I was in for the night anyway.
 
I like the paragon 14. 110V AC very convenient as it plugs in anywhere and anytime. When I mean anytime, the power goes out here alot. I had an outage while heat treating and I was able to finish heat treating with the oven plugged into a 2500 watt generator.

I get consistent results and only had to change the heating elements once in the 20 years or so I have had it. Periodically calibrate the unit using melting cones. The cones melt at consistent temperatures letting you know if the thermostat is off. My oven was out by nearly 100 F after many firings. 100 degrees is alot when dealing with stainless steels.
 
That is a good idea to calibrate using the cones. I just go by the way the steel preforms and my magnet. I will pick up some cones just to see how close the numbers are to the actual temp.

The reliability of the Paragon is its most beneficial aspect. You also have the ability to set your ramp temp. rate, good stuff!
 
I've got an Evenheat and love it!
Good, reliable results every time.
I agree with Ed Fowler also: the outside of the thing eventually gets really hot.......one of my cats had taken plenty of naps up there when it first came in and before I used it, then one day it WAS in use, and when she jumped up there, she did and instant vertical leap of about 3 feet......I couldn't help but laugh.
 
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