Help me spend my $$!

Seems like an oven is in the lead. Probably one of the most sensible choices I can make as well. I already have a small kiln that can hit 2000F, but it's really not big enough for anything but the smallest blades so it's been pretty useless. I'll probably hold onto it though...."you never know" :)

Maybe I'll finally shake loose some $$ for a BF membership too ;)

Either way, I just found out I'm going back to AZ in a few weeks. I'll need to free up some $$ from SOMEWHERE to try and get my hands on some good ironwood while I'm there.

-d
 
deker said:
Any more ideas folks? Thoughts on the already listed stuff?

-d
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I'll agree with everyone else, get some good quenchant. (We're working on getting them in). Also, as everyone mentioned, a heat treat oven would make a fine addition to your toolset. If you decide to build your own, I can hook you up with the firebricks, and if you want to wind your own elements, I've got a few thousand feet of element wire and I'll give you some for free to make your elements.

:)

-Darren
 
Darren Ellis said:
I'll agree with everyone else, get some good quenchant. (We're working on getting them in). Also, as everyone mentioned, a heat treat oven would make a fine addition to your toolset. If you decide to build your own, I can hook you up with the firebricks, and if you want to wind your own elements, I've got a few thousand feet of element wire and I'll give you some for free to make your elements.

:)
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Geez Darren, were you just watching me browse your site? :) I've got to re-calculate the number of 3" soft bricks I need. I think I had it worked out to 40-50 at one point. I'll try and re-draw my diagram today and run my count again.

Do you have info on the element wire you have? Is it nichrome, kanthal, or something else? I'm not afraid of winding coils (I used to make chainmaille...I know ALL about winding wire... :rolleyes:). I'd just want to be sure that I wire everything properly and don't burn it up, etc.

You may be hearing from me later today. :)

-d
 
deker said:
Do you have info on the element wire you have? Is it nichrome, kanthal, or something else?
-d
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I do, but I'm up at the university teaching classes all day today and don't have that info here with me. Do me a favor and shoot me an email as a reminder to look that info up when I get home.

:)

-Darren
 
Personally I'd go for the quench oil and parts for your press. Unless you want to work with a lot of stainless I'd build a gas forge specifically for heat treating before I went with an oven. If you are going to go to the trouble of building an electric oven yourself I'd go for building a computer controlled salt pot though I hear the salts can play hell with the electric elements (so I'd probably go gas there as well). Heck, that's the trouble with having more wants than money available! It makes you decide what you really "need" over "want" and that $600.00 will dissapear fast! :D I'd have to add that I'd like a heat treat oven also but as I mostly use the simpler carbon and low alloy steels, anything dealing with forging, manipulating and heat treating those steels would take precedent for me not that you can't use an electric oven for the simple steels too, it just seems like overkill, but it would allow you to carefully controll some of the more sensitive time/temperature operations like careful annealing or spheroidizing as well as soaking at austenitizing temps. Well, that was helpful wasn't it!:D
 
i need to find some good plans for a low cost homemade gas forge. if anyone has a drawing or blueprint of one and its in autocad format please email it to me. pimpin.squee@gmail.com a gas forge and a bench vise and a belt grinder are pretty much the only things im missing from my shop. using a toaster oven for tempering.
 
Guy Thomas said:
Personally I'd go for the quench oil and parts for your press. Unless you want to work with a lot of stainless I'd build a gas forge specifically for heat treating before I went with an oven. If you are going to go to the trouble of building an electric oven yourself I'd go for building a computer controlled salt pot though I hear the salts can play hell with the electric elements (so I'd probably go gas there as well). Heck, that's the trouble with having more wants than money available! It makes you decide what you really "need" over "want" and that $600.00 will dissapear fast! :D I'd have to add that I'd like a heat treat oven also but as I mostly use the simpler carbon and low alloy steels, anything dealing with forging, manipulating and heat treating those steels would take precedent for me not that you can't use an electric oven for the simple steels too, it just seems like overkill, but it would allow you to carefully controll some of the more sensitive time/temperature operations like careful annealing or spheroidizing as well as soaking at austenitizing temps. Well, that was helpful wasn't it!:D
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Funny how when you think about it you run in circles isn't it? :) I've got a couple of venturi style burners and a few forge bodies laying around, so I could probably already put together another forge (heck, I've even got a solenoid operated gas valve if I wanted the controller attached to it! Wait, that's starting to sound like a salt pot...I've got a tube of 316 welded shut on one end too....Ok, add one extra controller to that list...building a salt pot ;)). Having a proper electric furnace will give me (to my way of thinking anyways) more precise control over temps. Specifically, if I want to anneal O1 it'll be a BIG help. I don't currently work with any stainless since I forge everything, but more options are good options right?

Uh oh, I think I just spent my $$:

- 2 or 3 digital process controllers (there's 2 of the model I already have on ebay cheap right now)
- Half a metric ton of firebrick from Darren :)
- Some angle iron and sheetmetal, door latch, etc
- Relays and switches and wires, oh my!
- 5 Gallons of real quench oil
- thermocouple probes

And the maybe pile:

- Blown burner kit from Darren (for a low-temp salt pot for tempering maybe? I really like Darren's burners. Or do I go for more firebrick and go electric?)
- More steel from Kelly Cupples (need some thinner stock for damascus)
- More handle material (I'm a sucker for a pretty burl...)
- Some "little" tools like a 'hawk drift/hammer drifts/etc.

Hrmm...if I do build a digital oven, I'll do another thread like my grinder build.

Of course, I could short circuit this if somebody wanted to sell me an evenheat for $500 :D

-d
 
deker said:
... - "Pile o' shop stuff" (5 gallons of good quench oil, steel, handle material, good set of calipers, misc. little tools, etc)...
- Good (used) HT oven...-d
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Good consistent quenchant, positively identified quality steel, and an accurate controllable heat source to treat it in. If there were 3 things I would tell any knifemaker to get in order to start out making great knives and avoid the pitfalls, these would be it. With these you will have unlimited power and control over the process. Half the "tricks" you could learn from other makers would pale in comparison since those tricks are mostly to overcome the lack of the control those three items offer.
 
Pimpin, you don't need plans for a gas forge, trust me on this. Any suitable round steel cylinder of approximately the right size will work. Think cast off pipe, old propane cylinders, old oxygen tanks, etc., etc. etc. There are safety considerations for things like old gas cylinders but they can be safely dealt with. You main area of concern will be fitting the burner assembly on the forge body and the type/construction of the burner itself. Other than that all you need is some kaowool or inswool of the proper desnsity, something like satanite to coat it with and line something up. There was a thread recently with pictures of a forge made from a propane tank. Upright or vertical forges are great for forging!
 
since i switched everything to electric on my RV i have the two 35lb propane tanks im not using. i can always keep the one with a new valve and use it for the supply and take the other tank and use it for the forge. nowi just need to find that thread. hope it gives details on how it was built.
 
thats helps me out alot. im sure im going to change up the inlet for the air to accomidate an air compressor
 
thanks Darren. that just gave me another good idea. use of a squirrel cage fan instead of an air compressor
 
How about some anti fatigue mats so you don't get tired while working in the shop. Most people wouldn't normally buy them. But I know if I had the cash I would get one so the concrete floor isn't so hard. Besides this wont suck up all of your budget.
 
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