Must haves with kiln

T

Taximanny

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Jul 27, 2015
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What are some must haves with working with a kiln.
I'm sure long heavy gloves
Fire extinguisher

I have mine on the way and would like to try and get everything I need to use it safely.

Would using it in my basement shop be ok???
Or attached garage?
I do have exhaust fan.

Thanks
 
The Furnace will generate heat not smoke...Welding gloves are inexpensive get good ones... Long Needle nose pliers for moving the work in and out of the furnace... Stainless Foil High Temp not cheap but worth every penny.
Quench Plates the thicker the better to dissipate heat rapidly.... A noncombustible floor just in case the blade gets away from you and hits the floor it won't take long to ignite flammables!!!
 
Put the oven on a rolling cart. The HF shop carts with a shelf below and a lip on the top tray is perfect.

Make a longer cord. No need to try and get the oven close to the socket when the cord is 12-15 feet long.

HT gloves, a rack for blades, HT tongs, a couple fire bricks to set hot stuff on ( put them on the cart top).
 
Are you oil quenching? If so, I'd think about where to put your quenchant to make the best use of your exhaust fan.
 
The kiln itself should cause no real problem: in the other thread, you said you were using O1, so the oil quench is likely to be the biggest hazard by some margin. A good lid for the quench tank is pretty much essential.

Personally, I stick to the great outdoors for oil quenching.

Quench plates and foil can probably wait until you are using stainless, but a jar of antiscale paint might be worthwhile for the O1. Without it, you are quite likely to get more scaling/decarb with the air atmosphere in the oven than you did in the forge.

A judiciously-bent stainless steel welding rod makes a pretty good blade rack if you only make a few knives, and you can easily size it for your small folder blades.
 
On my kiln stand, I oversized it so that there is a 8 inch surface in front of the door. I have patio blocks on this surface for quench plates, the rack for placement, magnets for testing or tools. It's been helpful so the hot blade doesn't have to travel far.

Regarding pliers - make sure that they don't have a plastic handle extending too far forward. In higher heats (>1800F), the air coming out of the kiln will melt them. I use blacksmithing tongs which are steel the whole length.

Otherwise, I have done quite a few heats in my basement with my kiln with no issue.
 
timgunn1962 said:
The kiln itself should cause no real problem: in the other thread, you said you were using O1, so the oil quench is likely to be the biggest hazard by some margin. A good lid for the quench tank is pretty much essential.

Personally, I stick to the great outdoors for oil quenching.

Quench plates and foil can probably wait until you are using stainless, but a jar of antiscale paint might be worthwhile for the O1. Without it, you are quite likely to get more scaling/decarb with the air atmosphere in the oven than you did in the forge.

A judiciously-bent stainless steel welding rod makes a pretty good blade rack if you only make a few knives, and you can easily size it for your small folder blades.
Click to expand...

So with the anti scaling compound painted on, I don't have to use SS foil with 01?
 
You even can't use foil for low-alloy / carbon steels.
Search for : Bimetallic corrosion .

Btw. using hi temp kilns in basement is PROHIBITED.
Or you seriously want in couple of years test your health insurance.
 
Kosa_PL said:
You even can't use foil for low-alloy / carbon steels.
Search for : Bimetallic corrosion .

Btw. using hi temp kilns in basement is PROHIBITED.
Or you seriously want in couple of years test your health insurance.
Click to expand...

I can see the danger of the kiln in the basement, but what will it do to my health?
I also work at a school and we have kilns inside in three different buildings.
 
If funds allow, spending an extra $50-75 on a separate TC and reading unit will always provide a reference to the controller PID its readout.

Other things are:
A door interlock

Robust build and parts ,like 40 amp SSRs with large heat sinks, etc.

If your build allows it, adding an outer shell of 1" inswool around the unit with a metal or foil jacket will help with the problem of hot oven exteriors.



For the dreamer of large dreams:
If someone decides to build the ultimate HT oven, build an over/under two oven unit. It isn't all that much more than stacking two units, but you build only one shell. Stack the ceiling/floor bricks between the chambers on their side to provide more thickness between the units. Separate controllers will be needed, but that isn't too much extra. Set one for 400F and the other for 1475F when doing 1095 HT, or set them at 1950F and 1400F for stainless. When you pull the blade from the pre-heat unit, set it to 400F and let it start to cool. By the time the soak/quench/cryo is done, the temper oven will be about to 400F.
 
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