Oven vs. Salt

Sean Cochran

Sean Cochran

Joined
Aug 17, 2009
Messages
240
Which is better all around?

Up until now I have been working with non stainless steels, but recently I have gotten into folders and used ATS34. A friend who has an oven has been doing the heat treat for me, but I want to get set up in my own shop to do it.

I have looked at several ovens and I am somewhat familiar with them having used my buddy's. But I also like the idea of having a salt tank so I could keep working with oil hardening steels as well.

My problem is I dont know alot about using salts. Can a propane fired salt tank get hot enough and hold that heat long enough for the soak times for stainless steels? Can proper tempering of blades and springs be achieved?

Sorry if these seem like elementary questions, it just seems that a salt setup mey be more versatile.

Thanks

Sean
 
If I could afford both I would most definitely have Salt Pots too.

At the moment I only have a forge and an Evenheat Kiln.
After forging my oil quench blades ALL of my thermal cycling is done in my Evenheat kiln, (annealing, normalizing, stress relieving, etc.) including austenitizing.

There is no reason to think you won't be able to benefit from the precise temp control of a digitally controlled kiln for your oil quench stock along with having the ability to do exotic alloys & stainless that might require high austenitizing temperatures.
For protection against decarb & pitting/scale in the kiln use PBC for your oil quench stock and foil pouch for your air quench.

The high temp salts that Darren Ellis sells has a working range of 1300 - 1650 degrees F. In other words, not high enough for the air cool alloys that I work with, (or the ATS34 you mentioned).
If you can only afford one or the other ............ IMHO, I would get the Kiln.
More versatile, (again IMHO ) and it will allow you to do your own HT on the ATS34 that you occasionally use :thumbup:


:cool:
 
David
Thank you. I was already leaning toward the oven just because I have used one and I am somewhat familiar with them.



Sean
 
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