heat treating equip

I recently got my digital pyrometer to show me temps in my forge. I can choke down the flow to get fairly consistant readings ie 1525 deg for 5160 and 1475 deg for 1095, +/- 10-20 degrees. Will this suffice for heat treating high carbon blades or should I buy an electrial oven such as a paragon or evenheat? What would you recommend as far as ovens? I am in it strictly as a hobby, maybe sell a couple knives.

You should be fine for a hypoeutectic steel like 5160 heat treating with a gas forge. With a little experience at keeping steel at a constant brightness even the 1095 shouldn't be too much of a problem. There are plenty of people who do heat treat it in a gas or solid fuel forge successfully. For something like O1 or 52100 where you also have higher temperature carbides than cementite I would recommend something with better control. I've heat treated 52100 successfully with a gas forge, at least as far as I'm able to tell with the testing that I am capable of, but there is too much of a luck factor with that complex of a steel for consistent results, so I'm stopping using it. Others may disagree.

Doug

If you can consistently keep your temp. range to 20 degrees or less you should be fine. I would adjust my heat to err on the low side. For example on 1095 and a 20 degree swing I would adjust it to 1460-1480. If you can keep it in that range for a 6-8 minute soak you should be fine.

farmrbrnboy said:

I recently got my digital pyrometer to show me temps in my forge. I can choke down the flow to get fairly consistant readings ie 1525 deg for 5160 and 1475 deg for 1095, +/- 10-20 degrees. Will this suffice for heat treating high carbon blades or should I buy an electrial oven such as a paragon or evenheat? What would you recommend as far as ovens? I am in it strictly as a hobby, maybe sell a couple knives.

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If you can dial it in to consistently hold a temperature that you can live with the forge has the distinct advantage of a dynamic rather than a static atmosphere, i.e., you can control oxygen levels to limit decarb and scaling much more than with an oven or kiln that does not have really pricey inert gas options.