Heat Treating Oven for Blades Up to 16” OAL

[me2]

I haven’t really been in the knife game for a few years but I was thinking of getting back into things. Is there a starter level oven that will handle something like a large kitchen knife with maybe a 10-11 inch blade and a 5” handle? Temperature range would be up to 2000 degrees F for stuff like A2, AEB-L, and any of the low alloy steels like 80CrV2 and 8670M.

 

[DevinT]

I think EvenHeat are a good value. There are some new brands that are probably good also, I’m just not familiar with them.

Hoss

 

[me2]

Good info. I didn’t know if they were still around.

 

[Ken H>]

I agree with Hoss, the EvenHeat oven is perhaps the best "bang for buck", especially the "LB" models. Some folks think Paragon is a better oven, but I'm not sure it's worth the extra dollars. A lot depends on how much money you've got. I use the Ramp Pro, which was the cheapest controller. I'm not sure it's still offered.

 

[me2]

It will be a while but I’ll look into them. I also need a new grinder. That will come first.

 

[Joshua Fisher]

I have a Jen Ken vertical kiln that works extremely well, I went with their 30” kiln but I believe they have slightly shorter models. I like the coil setup better than evenheat or paragon, I had issues with a paragon before getting the jen ken. I’ve probably heat treated close to 1000 blades in mine so far without any issues.

 

[Bühlmann]

I have a Jen Ken that is scheduled to arrive 12/27, so no first-hand experience yet. I ordered the Vertical Air Bath 21, which would also fit your specs. Their 16 inch version may also. Several features I think I’ll like more than the horizontal options, and their design philosophy makes sense to me. Be prepared to wait about 5-6 months if you choose them, though. I’m pretty excited!

 

[Joshua Fisher]

Pretty much all of the kiln manufacturers have really long lead times right now. I think it has more to do with the controllers but could be wrong. Even heats have a 10-20 week lead time at the moment as well

 

[butcher_block]

got a 22"LB this year to replace my 18 inch std even heat. really nice to be able to run foil packs all the way to the back of the kiln and not worry about over heating one end of the blade