HT Oven question

Heikki

Heikki

KNIFE MAKER
For those of you tempering in your heat treat oven, how long does it take your oven to cool down from austenizing temp to tempering temp?
 
Gene Kimmi said:
With my Jen-Ken air bath, it takes 5-6 hours. I was told by one of their techs to not cool it down with the lid open as that would shorten the life of the elements.
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Thanks Gene. Guess I should go turn the kitchen oven on as backup then. I'm concerned it will be too much time if I wait for the Evenheat to cool down enough.
 
I've heard that the Evenheat doesn't hold tempering temps very well which is the other reason why I haven't used it. But I don't have any first hand experience.
 
my evenheat holds 350 degrees like a champ. Cooling down to 350 from 1975° takes a very long time. The saving grace for me is that I’m most often using AEBL so I can use that time for cryo. If I’m not doing stainless then I use the kitchen oven to temper.
 
Thanks for the input guys. The oven heated up to temp pretty quickly, maybe 40-45 minutes to 1500. It took almost 5 hours to drop down to 400 or so. I'll be using the kitchen oven for tempering now and looking into converting my toaster oven for later.

On another note, the oven is sooooo much more convenient to use compared to lugging all the forge equipment upstairs and outside.
 
You could do a pre- temper heat in a toaster oven or something below your target temper while your oven cools if you do not want to use your house oven. If you temper at 425 maybe use a toaster oven at 325 or 350 while your HT oven cools. That way the toaster oven will not temp swing enough to get your steel too hot.
 
Chris Railey said:
You could do a pre- temper heat in a toaster oven or something below your target temper while your oven cools if you do not want to use your house oven. If you temper at 425 maybe use a toaster oven at 325 or 350 while your HT oven cools. That way the toaster oven will not temp swing enough to get your steel too hot.
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That’s an option I hadn’t really considered. Most times there’s no problem using the kitchen oven, but tying it up for 2-4 hours can create a conflict when someone else needs it.
 
Gene Kimmi said:
With my Jen-Ken air bath, it takes 5-6 hours. I was told by one of their techs to not cool it down with the lid open as that would shorten the life of the elements.
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I was told by them (when I called the other day) that you don't want to use the kiln for tempering below 600f because it starts to lose accuracy. The higher tempers (like on 3v,4v,etc)would be fine though since they are around 1000f
 
razor-edge-knives said:
I was told by them (when I called the other day) that you don't want to use the kiln for tempering below 600f because it starts to lose accuracy. The higher tempers (like on 3v,4v,etc)would be fine though since they are around 1000f
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Hmm. Mine holds great at low temperatures. 350 - 425 or so. I’m actually impressed with it at low and high temperatures.
I do let mine get to temperature and equalize for 15 - 20 minutes before I start any process.
 
On my Evenheat, when I take the blades out and cool them down to room temp, I then place them in a toaster oven for 2 hours. I close the door on the Evenheat, turn it off and let it cool down, then come back the next day or evening to do the tempering.
 
Heikki said:
That’s an option I hadn’t really considered. Most times there’s no problem using the kitchen oven, but tying it up for 2-4 hours can create a conflict when someone else needs it.
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Here, in the summer, running my house oven at 400-425 degrees for two hours will significantly heat up the house I am struggling to try and cool.
 
That's why I have a toaster oven controlled by a PID. My heat treat treat oven takes forever to get down to tempering temps. I've also heard leaving the heat treat oven open to rapidly cool down is bad for the elements. IDK
 
I think a large electric kitchen oven is most consistent for tempering...and cheapest. The large volume makes it consistent throughout...because the heating element is far from the work being tempered. I used 4 baking thermometers to check my two toaster ovens...a definite no. Then placed them in the old kitchen oven in my shop...a definite yes. ACCURACY ALERT: a kitchen oven can be off 25 degrees(well...mine was)...use a thermometer to set the actual temperature.

America does not bake like she used to...you can pick up used ovens where the range has been used and the oven looks pretty new in the $50-150 zone. I actually got mine free from someone remodeling a kitchen...the oven's color scheme was no longer a match. I took the burners out so I can set whatever I'm working on the without worrying that I might bump a dial...

If you have the floor space it's the most bang for your buck....imo.
 
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