Kilns

littleman

littleman

Joined
Nov 22, 2013
Messages
84
Could somebody tell me why a pottery kiln can not be used too heat treat knifes. Why can't you use it to bring them quench temp,normalizing and annealing temp.
 
Maybe just a question of the volume? Most of the pottery kilns I have seen are pretty big compared to knife kilns. You'd probably be heating up a lot of dead space and having to reach way down into a very hot kiln to retrieve your blade for quenching could be a little dicey. Those are just guesses - heat is heat, so I can't think of a physical/scientific reason why it wouldn't work.
 
The front loading kilns can be made to work quite well. The top loading kilns are hard to get blades out of when they're hot, and you lose alot of heat when you open them.
 
They can be used, but they are significantly larger than they need to be for knife making purposes, and as such, they take a very long time to come to temp, and are not nearly as efficient.
 
The above posts covered it. I have a glass kiln. It is large for a knife, an octagon with a diameter of 15". It is only 110V, so it takes almost an hour to get to 1500. It is top loading, which makes pulling a hot knife out cumbersome (you wouldn't think so, but trust me, holding that lid open while trying to fish out a blade down inside the kiln is no picnic). There are precious seconds lost there from the time the lid is opened, to the time you can grab a hold of the blade, lift it out, and into oil. Many glass kilns for example, like mine, will only get to 1700 or 1800, so you're limited to carbon steel. The elements are on the lid of my kiln, so opening the kiln lid does cause heat loss. I actually modified my kiln. I cut a very small slit in the side of it where I can slide a blade in and out of the kiln without having to open the lid. The reason I got it? The guy selling it lived right down the street, it was a good price, and it was a huge improvement over my paint can forge..
 
For those with a top loading kiln, cut a small hole in the lid so that you can hang the knife down then cover the hole with a firebrick or kaowool. I suppose you would want to use a SS wire that can handle the higher temps
 
Jason, I had seen a fellow do exactly what you described on a video. He had a top loading kiln with a hole cut in it, would hang his blade down from that hole, and cover it with Kaowool. His kiln was tall enough. Like Stacy said, many of them, mine included, are not tall enough to hang a blade like that. It is a wicked good idea, for sure, if you're kiln is tall/deep enough!!! I was REALLY anxious about cutting that slit in the side of mine...but it turned out to be perfect, and highly recommend anyone with a top loading kiln to do it (as long as your elements are in the lid...and not the walls!!!!) ZZZZZZZZZZAP!!!! Thud. "Honey, are you ok?"
 
Thank you everyone. I have a lot to think about. But I found one that goes to 2000 for almost nothing. For that price makes you think long and hard.
 
depending on how the controler is set up you could use the parts to make a killer front load but if a older potters kiln it would be using cones for temp control and thats not goin g to be all that helpful
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top