Would this make a good heat treat oven / kiln?

S

SpeedyGonzales

Joined
Jul 20, 2011
Messages
25
Greetings Everyone,

I'm looking for input on this kiln and inquired directly from Evenheat and they said it's perfectly suitable to do heat treating. (up to 2200° f)

http://www.kilnfrog.com/osb/itemdetails.cfm/ID/794

The chamber dimensions are 10" wide x 9" deep (6.5" tall).

I would rarely make a blade over 9 or 10" long... but if I 'needed' to, I could place the blade diagonally [The diagonal of this kiln about 13.5"].

A friend pointed out that I wouldn't want to place a blade too close to the heating element. Does anyone have any input on the maximum size blade I could treat in this thing?

...also if you have anything else to add (Good or Bad) please do!

Thanks very much everyone,
Andy G.
 
Evenheat have a whole line of kilns designed for knifemakers that are close in price (I believe) to the one you linked to. Why not look at something designed for knifemaking? My evenheat kiln cost ~$1200 (in Canada, would be much less in the US) and has an 18" long chamber.

EDIT: The prices I'm seeing on the knifemaking kilns in the US are a little higher than what you linked to. The kiln you linked to seems to have a proper controller on it (set-pro) so i'd say go for it provided you're not going to need any extra space!
 
It will work great for you for blades up to 9" oal But you are going to want to do longer knives at some point. When I first started making knives I couldn't imagine Ever needing an oven more than 14 inches interior length. I now own a 20 inch oven And a 48 inch oven in addition to the first 14 inch oven.
 
I understand that if you touch the heating element with a piece of steel, you are a dead man.

Save a few more bucks and get an oven that's a little bigger and is going to allow you to work safely. I'd not try anything over 7 or so inches overall in that oven. Very limiting.
 
Hi Aaron,

Thanks for your input. I just watched one of your videos a couple days ago and enjoyed it.

I'm on quite a budget and this one is substantially less expensive shipped, so I may give it a whirl if I can get some input on it.

thanks!
 
That oven will work fine for small knives. But I would seriously look at getting a larger one because like Bill one day you will want to make a larger knife. Then you are going to kick yourself for not getting a larger oven. I got an 18" oven and sure wish I had gone with at least the 24" or 32" one.
 
If your budget is the issue, save up until you have enough and get a full sized oven. It'll cost you a lot less when you inevitably upgrade to a larger oven.
 
Josh Mason said:
I understand that if you touch the heating element with a piece of steel, you are a dead man.
Click to expand...

This is basically wrong. First of all a good oven should have an interlock switch on the door so that there can be no power to the elements when the door is open. Even if this was not the case you would have to be grounded in some manner for electrical flow through you. Unless you are touching something like the case with one hand and the shorted out blank with another it wouldn't happen if you were wearing any kind of decent shoes or boots. Until you are grounded you are a bird on the wire. Plus in order to actually kill you as opposed to just shock you and scare the crap out of you. you would have to be very well grounded for 220v to kill you. Standing in water, well wedged against grounded metal. etc. Working with red hot steel you should be wearing dry leather gloves anyway. Not meaning to say 220 isn't dangerous, but the above statement would take a perfect situation to occur.

I do supportt the idea of a bigger oven being better.
 
Josh Mason said:
I understand that if you touch the heating element with a piece of steel, you are a dead man.
Click to expand...

This is basically wrong. First of all a good oven should have an interlock switch on the door so that there can be no power to the elements when the door is open. Even if this was not the case you would have to be grounded in some manner for electrical flow through you. Unless you are touching something like the case with one hand and the shorted out blank with another it wouldn't happen if you were wearing any kind of decent shoes or boots. Until you are grounded you are a bird on the wire. Plus in order to actually kill you as opposed to just shock you and scare the crap out of you. you would have to be very well grounded for 220v to kill you. Standing in water, well wedged against grounded metal. etc. Working with red hot steel you should be wearing dry leather gloves anyway. Not meaning to say 220 isn't dangerous, but the above statement would take a perfect situation to occur.

I do supportt the idea of a bigger oven being better.
 
and dont forget if yu are doing SS you will need to wrap the blades in foil too

i have an 18 inch and wish it was a 22 but liek was said already i ll get a 27 next time around or bigger depending on cost
 
Does anyone use a KnifeDogs/Paragon oven? They have an 8x14x4 with a controller for around the same price.
I don't have one but I've noticed them and made a note to look back in the future when I'm ready to buy a HT oven.
 
Thanks for the responses everyone. I generally want to stick to smaller knives under 10". I'm an engraver and most of my pieces would be more to showcase engraving. I can appreciate a big knife and certainly respect those who make them... but my objectives are a bit different. I would probably be getting into folders eventually.

Here's some of my work.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?...85065864.47449.100000817415924&type=3&theater

One I did for William Henry

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?...025379511.6897.100000817415924&type=3&theater

Marilyn Monroe engraved on a buffalo nickel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PwG-duuruc8&sns=em

I'm not sure I need a big kiln for what I do.
 
cool work and if smaller hunters and folders aere your plan you ll be fine witha smaller kiln.
for me i thought kitchen knives 10 inch blade 5 inch handle and a bit more for foil and i was a fool since now i make sushi knives and carving blades tha have 12 and 13 inch blades on them + handle. i have also made a sword for fun and had to barrow time on a sword forge forHT
 
SpeedyGonzales said:
Thanks for the responses everyone. I generally want to stick to smaller knives under 10". I'm an engraver and most of my pieces would be more to showcase engraving. I can appreciate a big knife and certainly respect those who make them... but my objectives are a bit different. I would probably be getting into folders eventually.

Here's some of my work.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?...85065864.47449.100000817415924&type=3&theater

One I did for William Henry

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?...025379511.6897.100000817415924&type=3&theater

Marilyn Monroe engraved on a buffalo nickel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PwG-duuruc8&sns=em

I'm not sure I need a big kiln for what I do.
Click to expand...

I looked at the knives first and I thought wow, you've got talent; then I watched the video, I am amazed at the talent you possess, defies description.
 
Thanks! I appreciate that very much. Engraving is alotta fun and can add allot to your knives. I guess it's a whole nuther endeavor and more tools... but I'd imagine allot of knife makers get into engraving via knife-making amd vice versa (like me).

I have utmost admiration for what you guys do. Looking at all your knives... you all do such a great job.

As far as the kiln... I'm going back and forth between the "copper" model I posted and a KH 414. With that I could do a 13.5" blade with ease.

I appreciate the comments!
 
I guess some clarification is in order. My response to this is what I understood on this subject. I apologize for spreading any disinformation. My knowledge is just from what I gathered in the years of reading this forum. The idea of propping a blade sideways into a small kiln didnt sound safe to me, and I seemed to remember reading that touching the elements with a blade was a catastrophic thing. Sorry gents, please continue.



SteelSlaver said:
This is basically wrong. First of all a good oven should have an interlock switch on the door so that there can be no power to the elements when the door is open. Even if this was not the case you would have to be grounded in some manner for electrical flow through you. Unless you are touching something like the case with one hand and the shorted out blank with another it wouldn't happen if you were wearing any kind of decent shoes or boots. Until you are grounded you are a bird on the wire. Plus in order to actually kill you as opposed to just shock you and scare the crap out of you. you would have to be very well grounded for 220v to kill you. Standing in water, well wedged against grounded metal. etc. Working with red hot steel you should be wearing dry leather gloves anyway. Not meaning to say 220 isn't dangerous, but the above statement would take a perfect situation to occur.

I do supportt the idea of a bigger oven being better.
Click to expand...
 
wow amazing talent bro. I would set yourself up on here and sell your services, I am sure there are some knifemakers here that would love to enhance their pieces of art with yours!

Sorry for being off topic, just had to give props to this artist
 
Speedy - Ive got an Evenheat KH418 thats 18 inches deep and it has been awesome. I got the Rampmaster controls which I would suggest. The set pro will work fine but you will have more settings with the Rampmaster. Just wish I would have gone 220 instead of 120. It takes around 35+ min to get to stainless temp(440C). From what I understand the 220 heats up a bit faster. Goodluck!!!
 
In defense of Josh's comment about touching a heating element, on the USAKnifemaker webpage describing their "KnifeDogs(tm) Heat Treating Oven by Paragon" it says -

............................wait for it now............................

Accidentally touching your metal knife to an electrically charged oven element will give serious shock and may cause death.

I think that should be avoided at all cost myself.

I guess opening door on this oven doesn't cut the power. I understand that they were going for the most bang for the buck on this collaboration with Paragon and eliminating that feature probably saved $20 but if I were buying this one I'd pay the extra $20 myself.

Corey "synthesist" Gimbel
 
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