New HT forge

K

KyKaMo

Joined
Mar 31, 2012
Messages
23
Hey,

So I have a coal forge that im tired of. I want something quicker and less time consueming, so i have decided I want to build a a gas or electric furnace. I am not sure which way to go tho.

What i want to do is purely heat treat, so even and controlled heat is important. I will be only making knives max 14" long out of steel that is from 10xx (the simplest) to 440c (most difficult).

I hear that propane is mucho quick and can provide alot of heat, but how easy is it to HT 440c?

How easy and expensive is it to make a electric kiln to HT 440c and how long does it take to heat up?

What do you guys recommend to do this?

Thanks
 
Come on guys! Your killin me here. What advice can you give? What are your experiences?
 
You can heat treat some simple steels in a propane forge... It is what I use, but I do have a thermocouple in it and can hold it to +- a few degrees. I would not do 440c in anything other than an electric oven.
 
I just built blown forge with a PID to monitor temps. I can hold temps +\- a couple degrees AND, can run it so it's a reducing atmosphere easily as well
Do you have a welder? It makes a difference on ease of build.
My build was easy and I'll be building another before too long. I will do a WIP but it'll be a few weeks
An oven is more technical. Are you competent with wiring, sheetmetal work?
Most of all, do you have more money or time?
If you want to do stainless you'll need to build an electric kiln. Complex stainless will need a programmable PID controller for ramp and soak times.
 
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Build a forge and do forging and carbon steel HT. Send the stainless steels out for HT at a professional shop.

A bit of reading up, on HT and steel types might be in order.
 
Hmm, thanks guys.

Well i would really like to do 440c one day so ill make an electric forge.

Does anyone know any simple plans to make one out there?

How easy and expensive is it to make a electric kiln to HT 440c? I dont weld and have a budget of 300-400$.

For those who have one, how long does it take to heat up to critcal?

Thanks
 
http://www.flemingknives.com/htoven.htm

Eric made this oven. If this simple pictorial is more than you can follow then maybe look at a Sugar Creek Kiln.
Or, like Stacy said, build a propane forge and send your stainless out for heat treat.

My propane forge could be built including the PID and thermocouple for $250 without too much scrounging. Less if you can come up with a few free parts.

Here's a small WIP kiln build. Use the search function and you'll find a few more
 
On your budget, you won't be building/buying an electric HT oven ( called a kiln or oven, not a forge).

A good PID controlled propane forge can easily be built on your budget that will work for HT of most any steel with an austenization temp of less than 1600F. D-2 and the high alloy and stainless steels will need an electric oven and oxygen exclusion, so they should be sent out for HT. This isn't really expensive, especially if done in batches.

Just a note for when you get to doing HT in a forge, but using a muffle pipe will greatly help.

The stickys have lots of HT and forge building info.
 
I built my oven for around $200 but that is only because I was able to get a Paragon pottery kiln for $20, a PID controller for $120, angle iron/misc parts for $60.

The shell, elements, element connectors, and heat sync all came off the Paragon
1065.JPG


With some cutting and patience, it became this:

WilderKiln3.jpg


WilderKiln4.jpg


There's no doubt that she's ugly as sin. Certainly not up to the standards of other home built jobs, but it works great for me!
 
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