Looking for a good heat treat oven

JTknives

JTknives

Joined
Jun 11, 2006
Messages
8,651
Well after deciding to switch over to stainless for my valor knives i quickley relized that i NEEDED a wheat treat oven and that is not just a need its a must. im trying to kick up my production and quality and get it going as more a part time job so my wife does not have to work. so i need a good oven. i was looking at the paragon and even heat somthing between 14-18" inside length and under 1,300.00 any comments or super places to get them from cheep. If any one has one thay want to sell me let me know. thanks
 
I built mine for under well under $500. If you can weld and do some basic wiring you can do it do. it is 6"x6"x20+" and hit 1500 in 11 min. I am sure it can hit 2000f no problem.
 
i ahve and even heat 18 inch jobbie and like it alot but when it comes time i will be making a new one with the even heat parts and more fire brick somethign more the 6x7x22 maybe longer

now and then i would like a longer kiln but not often
other then that the even heat has been trouble free and works like a charm
thing to remember is get the higher power kiln then you think as you cant amke a 110v kiln ramp fast i have a 220 and for my size kiln it still takes a while to get it soaking at 1500 let alone 2000 when you as 10 min at 1500 and 30 min at 2000f then your looking at running the even heat fro about 2hours
 
Everheat Pro is a great one. I use it in my shop all the time. You may want to check them out. Hope this was of help to you. :)
 
well i dont know about making one, i mean i can im building a belt grinder and for my real job i wire houses. but i have mu belt grinder to do and i need to get some knives done to pay the credit card bill :D. i was looking at the evenheat 18" but it looks kinda cheep and not very durable. is this just me or is it ok. the paragon 14.5" looks like a tank and i onley do small knives any way so for an extra cupple hundred bucks i can have the paragon. i just want to get a good one because it a very large investment on my part. also im in an apartment so the smaller paragon would take less time to heat up with 110 v. and looks like to would be ok to move around. but will it get up to the temp i need for doing cpm 145 and cpm s30v and the like
 
the even heat could be built a little more heavy duty but mine is holding up jsut fine and i like the side opening door
i tell you now get the next size bigger then you think you need as the upgrade is not that much compared to getting a new larger more powerfull kiln

ooo ad ive run the evenheat to 2125 already doing some cpm10v
 
Ya know im thinking im going to get the Evenheat Knife Kiln 18.0 is it worth geting the rampmaster 2 or is the one it comes with ok
 
do the evenheat come in 120 volt. i dont want to tap out of my oven plug in my kitchen to run this. so 120 would be best.
 
The smaller model paragon knife kiln is the only commercial 110V heat treating oven I know of. I'm pretty sure all the Even Heat ovens are 220V.
 
hey butch. you ever try messing with your ramp temps? i know you can set the evenheats to ramp at a specific ammount per hour. you might be able to up that rate and get her cooking faster.

sorry for hijacking. as far as this thread goes. i would say build one yourself. if you need to contact me i can give you the part numbers i used from omega.com for all of the controllers wiring solid state reelays etc. and the ext to the guy who helped me out a lot.

i say i have about 500 into it. and the thing goes up to 1500 in about 10 minutes and maybe another 5+ to get to 2000. runs smooth and even as can be.
let me know i can give you info. for anyone who needs it. just shoot me an email
 
i run all my ramp to temp at 9999
the first 1500 is not that time eater its the gettign that last 500 that kills

i have ot run another heat treat in a few days s i ll see what the time brakes down to then
 
I seldom do my own heat treating os SS any more, prefering to send my blades off to Paul Bos.

His prices are extremely reasonable especially if you send a batch of 20 or more. But even at $14 for a single blade the cost is easily passed on to your customer. Plus you know you have the best available heat treat that also includes a deep cryo cycle. Having Bos do the heat treat can be a good selling point as well.

You can get a LOT of blades heat treated for what an oven will cost you. Just something to think about.

-Mike-
 
I dont have a dryer outlet. so 110 is a must. I like being able to heat treat right away and try diffrent things. i also use O1 and im not shure of any one that treats it. ya any help on making one would be great then i could decide if i want to build one or buy one.
 
The 110V ovens take a *very* long time to come to temp. Just an FYI. Even for a small batch of blades you'll be spending several hours heat treating, not counting if you want to use your oven for tempering. If you need a small 110V oven, I'd do like the other folks suggest and build one. You can make it the right size to for the majority of your knives, you can make it ramp faster than many commercial models and you can make it for much less money.

All that being said, however, if I were going to do a large run of blades I'd send them out. Paul Bos charges $70 for 20 blades + shipping and you just happen to get the best heat treatment available today. For that money you could have a lot of blades heat treated before you made it to the cost of an evenheat, let alone a paragon. That's before you consider the time you'll spend heat treating, the electric bill or the value of having someone like Paul heat treat your blades.
 
sweet butch, just figured i'd check. i know i overlooked things like that on my oven.. too damn many settings

hey guys i have a 110 oven. and it is slow... it just barely makes it up to about 1450. nice litte oven for carbon steels, works like a charm. but its slow... and as soon as you open that door it drops to like 1300 or less. takes a while to recover from that too. but it sure is hell beats working with a torch.

i would go with the build. and find a source to run it off. because i don't think those 110 set ups will do what you need them to do.

but you could with what acrid, and micad said. send the first few batches to bos. sell some knives, and then you can buy or build a great oven. or you may just say forget about it and stick with paul bos
 
The problem with 110 is that your going to have 20 amps max. 20 x 110 is 2200 watts. I am sure you know all this. Now you could buy one of the A1 kanthol wires and a pid and ssr off ebay. Those wires are about 1720 watts. I ended up with an extra thermo couple so I could send you that but on ebay they are cheap also. Then you get some fire bricks and start stacking them up to figure out how to get the chamber size you want and the wire will heat. I would stay with in about 400 cubic inches. Then I would add about an inch to my outside dimensions for kaowool and built or find a steel box that size. Make the top removable. so you can assemble it and if necessary replace the element at some point in the future. (they don't last forever). Grooving the bricks for the elements would be easy. Router, gouge, saw etc. I used some 1/4" stainless all thread thru 1/2 holes to get the power from outside to inside. The wireing is simple especially if that is what you do. The door you just need some hinges and a method to trap the bricks.
 
I have a paragon with 4.5"x4.5"x14" interior i bought from knifekits for about 1000 bucks. Its nice and well built. keep in mind all associated costs. I spent 1000 bucks for the oven. 200 dollars for rockwell files, oil, gloves, racks. and another 200 on rewiring my garage to power the thing and another 200 dollars for a custom stand. cost is displayed on the oven and its about 17 bucks for 1 run (havent confirmed on the bill yet). when i bought it i figured, well its only 1000 dollars, but didnt think about all the little other stuff i would need, dont get me wrong, i am super happy with it :)
 
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