Quench plate size...

[Setarip]

Hello!

I am a new knife maker and I am moving from carbon steels to stainless within the next couple of weeks. I currently have a set of aluminum “plates” that are 1.5X3X6 inches. I plan on only making small fixes blades and folders. I like to use 5/32” steel primarily. Is this enough aluminum for my needs?

 

[HSC ///]

Get a little bigger. U won’t regret it
Maybe 2x4x8 or even 10
I know aluminum is expensive

 

[butcher_block]

my kiln can take 18long blades my plates are 1x6x18 inch im looking to upgrade my kiln so my plates will also get up graded. if you are going to run mr then a fw blades at the time yu need mpre mass th i have as my plates get morethn warm

 

[Ken H>]

If your blades are all <6" so no metal will be hanging outside the plates, your 1.5" thick plates will work just fine. That thickness is going to take up heat like a longer plate will. You might put a water mist over the plates while cooling if you think it's taking too long (over 2 minutes) to quench. If you're doing lots of blades at a time you might find you'll need to cool plates with water between quenches.

Short version - try it, I think you'll be surprised how well those plates will work. If they don't, then order new plates. I would clamp plates during quench with Clamp - helps hold them together, prevents warp, and easy to carry to hold under water faucet if needed.

 

[Setarip]

Thank you for the detailed response. My blades usually run less than 4 inches long since I’m making slipjoints. But, I also want to ensure I have enough mass to soak up the heat so I went and ordered bigger plates. Aluminum is cheap enough that I’m only out $18 on that smaller set.