Heat Treat Question

J

jleiwig

Well-Known Member
I plan on sending out my first few blades for heat treat, but after that I plan on building the heat treat oven from the brittish blades plans.

I'll be winding my own kanthal wire into elements. I found a guy on ebay selling the 16 gauge Kanthal A-1 for 9.99 for 25 ft. Has anyone found a better price on the wire?

I can get 2600 fire bricks (k-26) locally for 2.95 each, which seems to be a good price compared to online sources.

However, the same company sells durablanket 1"x24"w for 5.53 a sq ft. This seems really high compared to what I've seen other ceramic fiber stuff going for. There is a company online selling Kaowool for something like 2.99 a running foot I believe. Is Durablanket that much better?

I'll go with the auber for the PID, thermocouple, and such.

Of course now I want a pid for my smoker too!:D
 
I noticed that nobody had replied to this thread.....sorry for the delay!

The thing you need to check on both products is the density. #8 density is what you want....the lesser density numbers start looking like puffy cotton candy, and are very fragile and hard to work with. That MIGHT be the difference in the prices. I usually purchase an entire roll of 1" X 24" X 25' X #8 density per year, and the price right now is hovering around $110 for the roll.

It's just like buying kydex...when you buy it by the square foot, you get gouged....but when you buy the entire piece, it's a lot more affordable.
 
From what I priced the soft firebricks at that seems like one heck of a deal.

I followed the tutorial also and in hindsight this is what I would have done different.
Set up the bricks how I wanted them and built the frame to fit leaving enough room between the brick and frame to wrap a layer of kao wool around it .
I also just used the Kao wool in the door instead of the brick.
I used a cord for a clothes dryer for the main plug.
 
I had considered casting the chamber out of refractory, similar to how it looks like Paragon does their kilns, but I think the bricks are the way to go. I did want to put the blanket around it, because this will be in the garage, and any safety factor I can build in to prevent a fire is going to make me feel less apprehensive about it.

Ed,

Both are 8 lb density blankets. That's why I can't understand the pricing difference.
 
I am trying to finish mine up and also allowed room for a layer of inswool around the entire oven. Just have the door left to go. I got my inswool from harbison walker (where I got my bricks for $2.65 each if I bought a full case) for free - they had a bunch of samples that he said I could have as much as I wanted, so I filled a garbage bag :)
 
OK, now I have a clearer picture. :)

I've used both Ka-wool and Durablanket brands, and I personally like the Ka-Wool brand better. The Durablanket was obviously less dense than the Ka-wool, even though both were #8 density. I was using them both to re-line my welding forge, and found that the Durablanket lasted only about 1/2 as long as the Ka-wool before I need to re-line.
 
EdCaffreyMS said:
OK, now I have a clearer picture. :)

I've used both Ka-wool and Durablanket brands, and I personally like the Ka-Wool brand better. The Durablanket was obviously less dense than the Ka-wool, even though both were #8 density. I was using them both to re-line my welding forge, and found that the Durablanket lasted only about 1/2 as long as the Ka-wool before I need to re-line.
Click to expand...

Now that is great info. Thanks so much! I will not go with the durablanket and will pay to have the Kaowool shipped to me.
 
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