Unexpected Major Shop Upgrade 😁

[Nate Webb]

I never find these deals... But I was perusing Facebook Marketplace near me (Central Maine) and saw a listing for a "knife kiln." Low and behold, there's a like-new Jen-Ken 30+9 (so, 30", with a removable 9" extension) vertical kiln with TAP controller and solid state upgrade all of 20 minutes from me. And the price? Well without going into exact numbers, let's just say I saved about 80% off new. Sometimes it's nice when Facebook can be used for good and not evil

Obviously it's sitting in the shop now. I'm just waiting for the new sub-panel to be installed to run this beast. Hell of an upgrade from the tiny little manual kiln I've been relying on

 

[Lorien]

wow! Nice score, congrats

 

[ea42]

Wow Nate you might want to try getting into pottery in your spare time with that bad boy!
Amazing find!!

Eric

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

Congrats.

 

[Taz]

That's awesome!!! I always check FB for stuff, even if I don't really need it. I got my Wilson hardness tests for $325 My first Kiln was $150 and I converted it into a HT oven until I built my own.

 

[Nate Webb]

I got the 240v line run and quenched a few longer blades over the weekend. Kiln took longer than I expected to come to temp, but I guess there's a lot of area in there to bring to temperature... Other than that everything went perfectly.

I do have a question though. I'd like to be able to heat treat stainless steels. The stainless I've done in the past were all in someone else's horizontal kiln. This being vertical, any suggestions on processing stainless? Punching a hole in the foil in order to hang the blade would seem to defeat the purpose... Am I missing something?

 

[Ken H>]

I know there's a way, just never really thought about it. Carbon steel is a no brainer, but foiled wrapped SS? How about a wire basket (very simple with a single turn at bottom and a single loop at top to hold blade in place? Looking for other folks who have a vertical kiln to share how they do it.

 

[DanF]

Deleted my response, I don’t use foil on stainless. Maybe a shout out to Josh Fisher?

 

[Nate Webb]

I know there's a way, just never really thought about it. Carbon steel is a no brainer, but foiled wrapped SS? How about a wire basket (very simple with a single turn at bottom and a single loop at top to hold blade in place? Looking for other folks who have a vertical kiln to share how they do it.

Hmmmm, or maybe some sort of high temp basket I could put the blades in. Interesting...

 

[Linus Knives]

I never find these deals... But I was perusing Facebook Marketplace near me (Central Maine) and saw a listing for a "knife kiln." Low and behold, there's a like-new Jen-Ken 30+9 (so, 30", with a removable 9" extension) vertical kiln with TAP controller and solid state upgrade all of 20 minutes from me. And the price? Well without going into exact numbers, let's just say I saved about 80% off new. Sometimes it's nice when Facebook can be used for good and not evil

Obviously it's sitting in the shop now. I'm just waiting for the new sub-panel to be installed to run this beast. Hell of an upgrade from the tiny little manual kiln I've been relying on

Sounds like you got a great deal. I had the same thing happen recently- got a nice big evenheat KF22.5 for a $600 shipped to me. Thing is the seller had to pay close to $400 of shipping. Not sure why they did that but it worked for me!

 

[Gene Kimmi]

I have 2 of the JenKen kilns. For stainless, I make my pouches 3" longer than needed and roll the end of the pouch around a 3/16" pin to hang them. 3-4 wraps around the pin works unless the knife is heavier than normal.

 

[Nate Webb]

That's a good idea. Thanks!

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

Gene has the same method I have seen. Make up some large D-rings from 12-gauge stainless wire. Leave about 6" of excess envelope past the blade on one end. Make a fold, and a second, then fold again over the D-ring. Hang from the ring.