Resale value of homemade furnaces?

[heisler]

I'm planning on building a heat treat furnace, and I'm wondering if I'll be able to recoup the material costs should I ever decide that knifemaking is not for me. Do homemade furnaces have any resale value? The one I'll make will most likely be electric with a simple variable heat setting. I haven't decided on what type of insulation to use yet.

 

[Chris Meyer]

I would recommend that you not sell it, even if it works well. If the guy you sell it to electrocutes himself or injures himself in some other way, they will probably blame and sue you. Unless you have a lot of product liability insurance, it's not worth the risk.

 

[heisler]

Hmm, that's a good point. I hadn't thought of it that way. In that case, maybe I should start with a real El Cheapo furnace. I was really intrigued by this recipe for homemade refractory cement. My thinking before was that if I could resell the furnace, then I should make a good one that would hold it's value. Do you think I should give this homebrew stuff a shot instead?

 

[Chris Meyer]

I don't really know what that Pearlite stuff is, but I looked up the MSDS for it and it doesn't look harmful. I have not purchased any castable refractory myself but I was not under the impression that it was especially expensive.

Someone named Andy posted a tutorial on making a heat treating furnace of the British Blades Forum. It might be of interest to you, so here it is in .pdf format.