Hello Robert: My Paragon is used to temper blades, it allows precise and repeatable operations. To properly temper the blade must be held at temperature for two hours them allowed to cool down slowly. As usual three seperate cycles. 52100 will gain in performace for every step you do right.
When hardening I use the torch to be able to quench at exactly the point of decalesence on a rising heat. The longer at critical temp the greater the probability of grain growth. Thus the benefit of multiple quench, nearly complete transormation with out the soak time.
The Paragon allows me to do what I call a 'bladesmith anneal' after normalizing heats. I go to 1,000 f. and hold for two hours, let it cool down slow, then again repeat in 24 hours after a night in the home freezer.
The Paragon is one of my most cherished knife making friends, it gives me the freedom to do the experiments I want to do and is totally dependable.
Glad that you found my thoughts interesting and got into knife making. Welcome to the world of knives.
We got to be careful about too much knife stuff in this or they might not delete it!