New Salt pot rig

Knifemaker87

Knifemaker87

Joined
Jan 2, 2006
Messages
1,073
hey everybody!
i have kind been out of the loop for the past 6-8 months, but have finally resurfaced. I moved out, and got married. the problem is, I enjoy spending time with m,y wife and vice versa, and also all my equipment is at my parents house. so i have been more than sluggish my my knife-making. That and i have been restoring a motorcycle as a means of transportation this spring, so i have been somewhat busy.

that and the last 3 or four heat treat attempts have come out horribly depressing, Mike Lambiase and i went in to build a salt pot to remedy this situation, and last saturday, I went over to Mike house to get some heat treating done for a katana i am working on. (i dont have the room to temper it), and here are some pictures from the morning.

First, we fired up the heat and melted the salt:
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Then we tried it out normalizing my gladius blade
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look at that even heating!
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i admit, we were both ecstatic about the results. i have broken the last 3 long blades due to uneven heating, and so this is quite a revelation for us.

Now the test.. a 28" katana. (notice my safety face-shield... oops)
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no cracks, minimal warping, soft back, hard edge= success! i dont know what the hamon looks like, but it will hopefully be pretty.

tempered the blade for an hour at 375-400 degrees twice:
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While the blades were tempering, Mike showed me is new airhammer. i must not covet.
 
Glad this one came out good,post some pics when it's finished..is the p-hammer a Kuhn---Regards Butch
 
Hey Chris!!!

Long time no see. Looking good. We knew you were up to all kinds of cool stuff. Good to hear from you, you newly wed you!

All the best, Phil
 
Lol look at that spaz with the facemask.

... :)

o_o

Oh.

Heheh just kidding, glad you got to treat your blade Chris. :)
 
Chris glad to see you back!-cant wait to see pics of the hamon.....
as for the airhammer,I'll do the coveting for you;):D
 
Just a tip for next time.

If anything is wrong with this blade it's because you have your tongue wrong, must be to the left side when quenching :-)

Richard
 
Damn Chris. Really neat. Please post finished pics.
 
Hey bro, long time no see. Glad to see you are back. Also congrats on the wedding. Give me a call when you can. Also great job on the blades. I just made a couple lately myself and will be working on a new design soon.
 
butchesforge said:
Glad this one came out good,post some pics when it's finished..is the p-hammer a Kuhn---Regards Butch
Click to expand...

Butch, Mike told me about it, sounded like he was having a litter of kittens when he said he was gonna get it :D, yes it is definately a Kuhn, 75 pounder.
 
Hello Chris,

Great to see you finally built your salt pot! What kind of salt are you using there? Those bags are not the type of high temp salt I am used to seeing...

Eric
 
If you are not using high temp salts you run the risk of breathing in bad stuff. Like Chlorine gas for one. BTW- Chlorine gas will kill you dead! I recommend high temp salts if you don't already have them. Regular salt (that is what it looked like in the pic) are a bad idea:eek:. Dan
 
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