Stoked, New JenKen Air Bath

Well, it arrived! This is a beast compared to my old 14” Paragon knife makers ht oven, can’t wait to get the receptacle switched out and fire it up.
Yesterday turned into a busy day in the shop, all the old, small grinders are gone, looks empty in there with just one 2x72, but that will be rectified when the just-ordered new grinder arrives in a few weeks when it is completed.
Need to refill the dewar now…, . 😬
 
Congrats Dan!! Bet you are stoked! Does that one only come in 220v? Curious how long it takes to get up to temp compared to your old paragon...

Also, what made you go with the vertical vs more traditional oven?
 
The old and new are both 220, and the old was far from slow to heat up, but was very limited in length and number of blanks.
The biggest issue for me other than length is the footprint, and castor stand this one sits on. I can roll it out of the way when not in use so it doesn’t permanently take up a benchtop or large rolling cart space. There are a LOT of coils in this compared to the old so I am hoping for quick ramps.
 
DanF said:
The old and new are both 220, and the old was far from slow to heat up, but was very limited in length and number of blanks.
The biggest issue for me other than length is the footprint, and castor stand this one sits on. I can roll it out of the way when not in use so it doesn’t permanently take up a benchtop or large rolling cart space. There are a LOT of coils in this compared to the old so I am hoping for quick ramps.
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cool thanks for the info! I'm hoping to get my first HT oven in the next few months so any feedback on this purchase would be appreciated, I'm sure others can benefit as well.
 
DanF said:
The old and new are both 220, and the old was far from slow to heat up, but was very limited in length and number of blanks.
The biggest issue for me other than length is the footprint, and castor stand this one sits on. I can roll it out of the way when not in use so it doesn’t permanently take up a benchtop or large rolling cart space. There are a LOT of coils in this compared to the old so I am hoping for quick ramps.
Click to expand...
I have their 30” model and it does ramp fast, usually I’m at temps in 20-30 minutes, carbon steel temps closer to 20 stainless temps closer to 30. They do have a smaller 120v model but I’d expect it to ramp closer due to voltage similar to any 120v kilns I’ve seen or used.
 
^ Joshua Fisher Joshua Fisher , I was hoping you’d have some input Josh, your past posts regarding this was a big part of the reason I went with it, thank you.
 
I personally have used my 30” Jen Ken for a year and a half and have probably ran close to 1000 knives through it. It ramps up fast and gives a very even temperature all the way through the kiln, I briefly had a paragon before this kiln and had so many issues with the kiln and company that I sent the paragon back. The paragon was very uneven in temperature probably due to temp probe location and minimal coils, I had issues with it holding temperature from the beginning that couldn’t be resolved by paragon and only found a solution when the controller company got involved (it was set to manual and not solid state relays and later I found out from the president of paragon that their technicians regularly check that setting but they passed me around from person to person for weeks) Jen Ken has had much more positive interactions anytime I’ve spoken with them and helped in setting up programs and patiently walking me through the settings. Overall I’ve been very happy with mine and hope you have the same experience with your new kiln. First thing I did was go to the hardware store and bought a box of uncoated nails to use as pins to hold my blades, they are super cheap and I often don’t even bother with dropping the pin out when I go to quench, I just pull straight up out of the kiln then straight down into my quench oil and if the nail is still there when I’m done quenching then I set it aside to reuse otherwise they will collect at the bottom of the oil and eventually get filtered out when I clean my oil.
 
Ah that's a good point you make Joshua - the vertical air baths would be as ideal for alloy blades that need a foil wrap and plate quench correct?
 
REK Knives said:
Ah that's a good point you make Joshua - the vertical air baths would be as ideal for alloy blades that need a foil wrap and plate quench correct?
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I don’t typically work with steels that I need to use foil, most of the time for stainless I use nitro-v and I can use anti scale for that and then plate or oil quench. If I was doing a bunch with foil packets I’d have to figure out the best method for holding them. But personally the anti scale coatings work better for my process.
 
Congrats! I looked at these strongly before going with the Evenheat model. I couldn't get in to how they are suspended...the photos showed springs with the blades "stuck" in between the coils. I do mostly stainless though and use the foil. This looked to be problematic and was really my deciding factor. The build on the Jen Ken looks solid.
 
Yeah, I saw that too, but saw some threads on the web with other solutions. Evenheat makes a good kiln.
 
Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith said:
It seems like all you would need to do is fold the end of the packet over a stainless rod and hang the rod on two of the ceramic rods.
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I like that thought better than the spring idea. I could just picture me trying to lean down in the lava hole and fish a bright orange steel packet out of there :)
 
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