O1 Heat Treat for a 1st timer

[JustinJ]

New to the forum, and knife making. Been a professional welder and aluminum boat builder for many years, and have jumped head first into knife making. I've got a 40 year pro knife maker veteran who has ben mentoring me, but he's out of town currently and I cant get in touch with him to ask my heat treat questions.

I've got 5 blades roughed out that I'm ready to proceed with heat treat on. I have a Paragon Kiln, though it's an older one with simple rheostat controls, not digital, I can not program to ramp up or down.

From what I've read, I had planned to pre heat to 1250, then bring up to 1475 and soak for 20 mins. Will be quenching in Parks AAA that I'm going to heat to 125.
Then two, two hour tempers @ 400.

My question is bringing the blades up to temperature. My oven has a pyrometer. Should I place the blades in the room temp oven, then turn on? And when I bring them up to 1475, when the pyrometer reads 1475, can I assume the blades have reached that temp as well and begin timing my soak?

Thanks for any and all guidance!
Justin

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

Set your kiln to 1475 and let it soak at 1475 for at least 10.
Put in the blades and close the door.
Watch the gauge and when it gets back to 1475, start the 10 minute counter.
Pull them out one at a time and quench. No need to wait for the temp to fully rebound between quenches.
Temper twice at 450F. You can cool them between tempers by running cool tap water over them or sticking in a bucket of water. It won't hurt them at all.

 

[JustinJ]

Thank you sir! That’s the exact information I was shooting for.

I assumed that once the gauge got back up to 1475 that meant the blades had been brought up to temp, I just wasn’t certain. Thanks again