Which Oven ?

millejn3

Well-Known Member
Hello everyone,

I'm looking at adding a heat treat oven to my shop but have no idea which one to go with. My shop is only wired for 120v and I do not plan on making any changes to that in the future. I,m looking at the KH414 13.5" Evenheat KH Series 120v and or the
KF514 14.5" Paragon. I'm thinking the Evenheat as it's max temp is just a little higher than the Paragon and it's chamber is also a little larger. Any advice? :les:

Thanks,
Jeff
 
My personal choice is Paragon. I've owned a few different brands over the years, including th Evenheat, and although the Paragon might be more expensive, it's a better quality oven all the way around. Temp wise, most of the new Paragon oven are now rated to 2300F.
 
I'm going to say both are well respected, but support your original leaning toward EvenHeat. I like the side opening door so you aren't reaching over a 2000F door to take your blades out. The EvenHeat comes with a safety switch to remove power from the coils when the door is open. For a 120V kiln, anything over about 2100F will take FOREVER to reach the temperature, and I would suggest 2200F is all you are likely to ever need. Note the plug requirements for the Paragon require a 20 amp circuit and just putting in a new socket and breaker does not cut it. The EvenHeat comes standard for a 15 amp circuit and is available in a higher powered version for the 20 amp circuit if you prefer.

In either case, I'd urge you to consider the 18" models, because you don't want the tip of your knife too close to the coils at the back. A 5" handle and an 8" blade on a kitchen knife leave you only 1" from the coils - and that doesn't even take into account the foil envelope.

By the way, the RM III controller is about $80 extra. I don't think you'd ever regret that choice. The Set-Pro works, but is just a PITA! :)

Both good units. Enjoy the adventure.
 
Thanks for the input!!
I'm leaning to the side of an evenheat with ramp master but still want to do a little more research and see if anyone else has any input on the two units. To date the longest blade I make is 10". I mainly make hunting and skinning knives and have everything sent out to heat treat. I have done a few in a homemade forge (1095 and 1084) with kingsford and a magnet and had some great results but now I would like to have a little more process control.
 
I just purchased the Knife Dogs heat treat oven with the digital controls. It is made by Paragon and has a side opening door. It doesn't have a cut off switch on the door but common sense can avoid danger there.
 
As far as I know Don the Knifedog Paragon ovens are only available in the 250v options, if its available in 110v that would be useful info as the 250v models have a very tempting price tag.

Sent from my RM-878_nam_usa_100 using Tapatalk
 
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