What oven for 01?

[blgoode]

I have liked working with 01. What is an inexpensive oven that will HT this steel? Still havent dont the charcoal thing yet. Now that I am working on 3 blades I have scrap to make a test blade. The good 3 may be sent off for HT. I am tinkering with the idea of building a small oven and would like input. To buy or build?...or send out?

 

[jmwands]

blgoode,
I think (there I go again) that with O1, and a relativly small blade (ie no machetes) you could get away with a torch to ht it. But I will certainly defer to those who really know, (ie real knifemakers,,,not wannabes like me),,,


jm

 

[Fox]

Bl, if you are planning on a full quench for your knives then you will need to use a forge of some type or a heat treating oven. If you are going to do an edge quench then you can do it with a torch. With a torch, it would be difficult to get the entire knife up to an even heat above critical temperature. A torch works well if you are just heating the edge and quenching.

I have done the edge quench for many years with a torch and am consistent with it. However, it takes time, practice and a lot of test knives to nail the heat treatment with a torch, at least IMHO.

Personally, I am gravitating towards an electric furnace for my heat treatments and will probably move to an Evenheat/Rampmaster controller combination next year. There are several reasons for this, the foremost of which is consistency of temperature at all points in the blade. A good furnace and controller will allow much finer control of temperature, soaking times and annealing cycles for all types of steel. While I only work with carbon steels with oil quenches, the capability of working with air hardening steels will also be available with the electric furnace.

An alternative solution would be high and low temperature salts for your heat treatments.

 

[Dan Gray]

I have the Evenheat Rampmaster
but if doing O1 I use the o/a torch up to 6" or so.
edge quenching or full quench and water tubing the edge.
but I've done many of them also.
fox as right on, with the practice, practice ,practice

 

[Protactical]

To pick up on the forge option the obvious is a gas forge. Easy to make using everything from small propane torches up to massive burners. Lets you play blacksmith, or just use it to heat the blades. While an oven sounds great, and in it's best version is pretty cool, you can't be totaly sure that the heat you are getting is being read right at the blade, so if you have to do some estimating, then a forge is a simpler solution. For blades in the 3-6 inch range, you can just use uninsulated pipe, and a few propane torches, however that rapidly gets old, and you are on to the adventure of forgemaking. Once you tire of HT, you can move on to forging and then welding your blades.

 

[dhannon]

Blgoode,

I started with O-1 and found that just a propane torch was not quite enough coverage, even for a simple 4" blade. As the torch got one part to heat, the rest would cool below good ht temp (color). I did some playing with plain house bricks to make a simple ht chamber. I stacked the bricks to make a small tunnel with one opening in the front for the blade to enter. On the side (1/3 of the way back) I drilled a hole big enough for the propane torch tip. This kept the heat well enough to do smaller blades up to the 4" blades I make. As the blade reaches cherry red with no shadows(orange and throwing sparks means the carbon is burning on the surface) quench in oil. After room temp, clean the sides as best as possible with sand paper then temper in the kitchen oven. Should be roughly 400-425 F to make a deep straw color on the clean blade (temper approx 30 min). The best part of using O-1 is that the blade can be annealed and heat treated over again if not done right the first time (over tempering into the blue shades....).

There's a whole lot more to the technical aspects of this, but this will point you in the right direction. Testing is the best way to see if the heat treat is done right. A rockwell tester is best, but low tech is a file test. A file should skip like on glass when hard.

Try this on a scrap piece to get the hang of the temperature readings for color.... Most of all, relax and have fun. That's what this is all about.

Dan