New HT furnace coming!

Smallshop

Smallshop

KNIFE MAKER
I just ordered a new Paragon HT furnace. I'm super excited to be able to control temps. I've made about 6 knives out of O-1 over the years but never felt I had control of the HT process. My next knives I plan on using A-2. I've worked with A-2 a lot over the years as a toolmaker but we always sent our HT out. This will be real exciting to begin using and learning.

I think O-1 is a pretty good steel but I think for knife purposes A-2 is even better. I am starting with that because I know how it works. When I was an apprentice (1981) I made a sine bar out of A-2 the thing still looks like I made it yesterday. It's just a great all around tool steel.

I plan on this years Christmas gifts being home-made.....
 
Did you get any estimate on delivery time when you bought yours? I ordered mine about a month ago and I am still waiting for it to get here.

Bill
 
4-6 weeks....maybe you have a couple weeks left.


I was hoping for closer to 4 weeks. maybe not, huh?

I'm not really up and going yet. I still have to do a bunch of work to make room. I've got a bunch of non-knife making equipment crammed in a fairly small shop. So I'm not sweating it too much.

hopefully, it's not affecting your work too much.
 
I got an email from them yesterday saying it is shipping next week. As far as it affecting my work, the delay is saving me money. I haven't screwed up any steel in a couple of weeks since I have been waiting on it to get here! This is strictly an expensive and addicting hobby for me. They sent me an email yesterday and said it will ship next week, so it looks like it will be just a little over 4 weeks total.
 
" I haven't screwed up any steel in a couple of weeks since I have been waiting on it to get here! This is strictly an expensive and addicting hobby for me."

Well, there is always that.....but I'll bet your getting ancy to HT a nice blade with it!....I know I am....
 
Smallshop said:
I just ordered a new Paragon HT furnace. I'm super excited to be able to control temps. I've made about 6 knives out of O-1 over the years but never felt I had control of the HT process. My next knives I plan on using A-2. I've worked with A-2 a lot over the years as a toolmaker but we always sent our HT out. This will be real exciting to begin using and learning.

I think O-1 is a pretty good steel but I think for knife purposes A-2 is even better. I am starting with that because I know how it works. When I was an apprentice (1981) I made a sine bar out of A-2 the thing still looks like I made it yesterday. It's just a great all around tool steel.

I plan on this years Christmas gifts being home-made.....
Click to expand...

hi,
if you make a small slicer with A2 (1/16"x 1 1/2" x 4") and temper the edge to Rc62 or so, we could do a test with my new slicer made of 1.2519.
 
Hi Scott,

That steel you used for your "Deuschkiri" seems to be pretty good from your other posts. have you made a slicer with it yet? a slicer might be a good get my feet wet and not a huge chunk of steel to ruin. I know I will be up against some learning curve. how does a guy check the Rockwell on the edge of the blade?
 
Smallshop said:
Hi Scott,

That steel you used for your "Deuschkiri" seems to be pretty good from your other posts. have you made a slicer with it yet? a slicer might be a good get my feet wet and not a huge chunk of steel to ruin. I know I will be up against some learning curve. how does a guy check the Rockwell on the edge of the blade?
Click to expand...

did you look at the picture of the Deushkiri? that for me is a small slicer. 4" blade will be big enough for most kitchen stuff. i prefer a cleaver/nakiri instead of a classic chef's knife. it is easier for me to use and control. i have made two, the one in the picture and a second that needs a handle. first time working with this steel. heat treat was basically the same as O1. i kept the shape ultra-basic since the mission is grinding/sharpening for the finest edge. blade angle is about 8 degrees a side. before heat treat, i ground a very small bevel on each side. I cleaned off scale and such and was able to test about 3/8" from edge. i did a 6 point test on each blade. the one with the handle was all Rc62 while the second was Rc64. will let you know progress
 
I didn't see the deushkiri. I saw the little cleaver shaped knife. Are you testing with a Rockwell tester or files or what? do you have a link to your slicer. I do plan on making kitchen knives. It one of the tools you really get to use a lot so testing is easy to get done.
 
the little cleaver shaped knife is the deuschkiri. it is a small nakiri. nakiri is for fine slicing vegatables and fruit; also works great on deboned proteins. i used the rockwell tester at the office. my niche is kitchen knives, i dont camp or hunt or eat snakes or jump out of airplanes, so i make kitchen knives. once the entire edge is shaving sharp, i will start tests. i hate that making knives has to take second place to forging car parts. if you drive a front wheel drive ford, honda, or toyota i helped make your drive axles.
 
I love the look of a nice hunter or skinner. But....Kitchen knives are probably what I will start foolin' with. I love cooking and am always searching thrift stores for new treasures. I have two that I favor. One is an Emil Gustav from Solingen Germany with ebony handle, the other is a old Chicago Cutlery that has a few serration out at the end of the knife. The EG is harder steel that CC but they both hold a decent edge and I love using them. I got both of these at the Salvation Army that is 30 miles from home for 65 cents each. Unfortunately the Salvation will no longer sell kitchen knives because of Liability issues. I have bought some real decent knives there up until their new rules.

I would like to copy that CC knife. The blade anyway....the handle not so much. I think perhaps the old CC knives were designed for butchers and had fairly fat handles that are easy to hold if you were cutting all day. most of us home kitchen cowboys use our stuff just enough to appreciate them.


I have wanted to really make knives for years as a business but feeding the family always seems to come first. So I get having to use equipment to make a living that could be put to "better use". I have had my shop for about 13 yrs now and never seem to get ahead of customer demands to play with knife making more. I have finally saved a bit and am not as busy this year so I'm hoping to get going again. I did get irritated at myself about seven or eight years ago when playing with heat treating. I never got consistent results.

I finally got fed up after making 5 knives that I thought were good enough to keep in the kitchen. I gave four of them away and still get good reports on them. The one I kept (which I haven't been able to find) I used as a tester for my handle fastening. I told my wife that it could lay in the sink in dish water or go in the dishwasher, etc. And since she is clueless on knife care she really put it to the test. Two years later I pulled it out of service...handle still in place but looking twenty years older.

If I can find that knife I'll post a pic.
 
Smallshop,
So the little women is the knife torture tester? LOL I know the feeling. Still with Quality Stainless steels and synthetics. The Kirinite material Bossdog sells here at Midwest holds up great and looks bright and cheery in the kitchen. I use it a lot for kitchen cutlery. The phosphates in dish machine detergent will kill almost everything over time.

I was able to get my wife to stop putting them in there. We don't have a dish washing machine. lol
 
"So the little women is the knife torture tester?"

Yes...but she didn't know it. You guys are all sworn to secrecy! I may need to use her "unique skill set" again soon......
 
here in central north carolina, all i have to do is say my knives use the same steels as your grandma's and you need to treat them like grandma's. most folks understand and when i see them again, they are very happy with the knives. used to hate to come home from the office, find my favorite cleaver in the sink in a pool of water, and find out that "Idontknow" used the knife last.
 
" used to hate to come home from the office, find my favorite cleaver in the sink in a pool of water, and find out that "Idontknow" used the knife last."

LOL!! Can't tell you how many times that's happened to me. Don't even get me started on what happened to my beautifully seasoned antique cast iron skillet set....


Hey, back to the topic of heat treat furnaces....USAknifeMakers is amazingly cheaper than going direct to paragon. Paragon even says you'll beat their price by using one of their distributors. It is a substantial savings. Even on the options....
 
Finally arrived.....

The Furnace finally arrived yesterday! Even though the folks at USAKnifemakers had contacted Paragon about three times for me to determine when it would arrive and to give me some advance warning it showed up basically unannounced. The fellow called just as I was heading to town to buy plumbing parts for the burst pipe I had. Since we have the store in our small town I had to stay on task. He was able to get it off the truck and on the ground safely so everything worked out well. It only took 4 teenagers to get it in the shop...one on each corner. I think paragon said it was 355 lbs.

I am real happy with Tracey's crew on follow through. Totally went the extra mile. The wait was worth it and was totally at the hands of Paragon as they had to build it. The wait actually forced me to think through options on placement and come up with a low cost solution to my space constraints.

Can't wait to start playing with this!:biggrin:
 
so Scott's motivating me to get to heat treating and Justin's motivating me to clean my shop...indirectly:biggrin:

Well, both need doing! Pics soon, blade to follow.
 
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