HT Stainless in Propane Furnace?

[69_knives]

I think it's almost inevitable that I will end up doing some stainless blades as well as tool steels and I would also be doing the HT on it, preferrably.

Are there any issues with heat treating stainless (in foil packets) in a propane furnace? I'd like to build a furnace that is somewhat scalable, long enough to do 25"+ carbon steel sword blades but able to stuff in some ceramic wool to make it smaller when the full length isn't needed for smaller stainless blades. I guess I can build an electric oven for the stainless if need be.

One more Q; where is a good place to get gas solenoids from?

 

[A C Richards]

If you are only doing SS occasionally then the propane forge will work fine. I have done D-2 in mine and it worked great. It looks like you are planning to put a solenoid on it for control which is good esp for SS. I got 4 off ebay for a very reasonable price, I think they ended up being less than $10 each. This was 3 years or so ago so take a look and see. Mine are gas rated for 25psi or less.

 

[69_knives]

Thank you.

I thought I read in a thread recently that a foil packet wouldn't hold up in a propane forge, I wasn't sure what the difference was or if that was correct so I thought I'd ask.

 

[A C Richards]

I had no problems with the foil packet. The atmosphere in an electric furnace is more oxidizing. You can control the atmosphere in a gas forge but it is much harder in an electric furnace.