Paragon Sand Bath HT Kiln

Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith

Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith

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I just found out that Paragon has taken their salt pot design and converted it to a sand bath. HT up to 2350°F is possible in the fluidized sand. Works basically like a salt pot. Cost isn't cheap - around $5,000 total after buy the pot (crucible) separately. These take a LOT of current - a dedicated 50 amp circuit is needed, as the units draw 9200 watts (40 amps). They are very heavy, too over 700 pounds once filled with the sand.

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Paragon SB-25 Sand Bath - KM Series - 37"W x 28"D x 41"H

SB-25 Sand Bath - KM Series - 37"W x 28"D x 41"H Paragon SB-25 Sand Bath Knife Making Furnace Even heat distribution Sand bath heat treating is renowned for even temperatures. The sand fills a stainless steel crucible, which is held vertically inside the furnace. The crucible extends past the...
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Someday I need to try one, but curious what are the benefits of sand over salt? assuming less corrosive but is it any safer?
 
I was able to use one of those for conducting some heat treatment tests. It worked very well! Heated a long thin blade perfectly even along its whole length, and quickly. It has the added bonus of being able to flow different gasses through the pot to fluidize the sand, such as argon, to shield from atmospheric gasses.
 
Thom Moss said:
Someday I need to try one, but curious what are the benefits of sand over salt? assuming less corrosive but is it any safer?
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It's way safer. You can dump a glass of water into the hot sand bath no problem. Watched it happen and thought it was gonna explode, but nothing.
 
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Besides Mecha's big advantages, another big advantage over salt is there is no drag-out. The blade comes out scrubbed clean. It can go immediately into a low temp tank for a bainite transition, or into a quench tank. Also, salt isn't practical for hardening stainless, especially these new high temp alloys.
 
I suspect they are close to the same. Since the sand does not need a phase change, it may even be faster.
If you want info like that call Paragon and talk to Mike ( I think he was the design/build/test guy).
 
john april said:
i wonder if the salt or the sand heats up quicker ?
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No data on site about how much time he needs to achieve say 1500 F .With 61 liter volume of chamber full of heavy SIC .......................I guess it takes a lot of time and energy. I don't believe it's practical for the average knife maker who HT 5 -10 knives at once .This is thing you fire up in the morning and turn off at the end of day , after hundreds blank HT ...I don t think that they will sell lot of them just for that reason ............on other side ,it is best way to HT steel .Clean , safe as it can be , best heat uniformity , heat steel extremely fast , can HT carbon steel , stainless steel .......have all advantage compared to any other HT equipment
 
That's awesome wow!

I heard one guy mention that paragon has an argon purge oven or something like that, but I didn't see it on their site. Is that true and would that be a cheaper alternative?
 
REK Knives said:
That's awesome wow!

I heard one guy mention that paragon has an argon purge oven or something like that, but I didn't see it on their site. Is that true and would that be a cheaper alternative?
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You can convert any oven to work with argon ...........
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