Thread: My new toy

When I got home this afternoon, there was a huge box on my front porch. Inside was my new heat treating furnace from Sugar Creek Industrial. :

The interior is about 10x8x6". I opted for the 110v version, although I do have 220v in my shop. Getting up to normalizing and hardening temps for carbon steels takes about 30 minutes--not bad at all.

I got the one with the manual control for now; I'll probably add the PID control later so I don't have to baby sit it. It held the temperature within 20 degrees or so once I got it in the ballpark.

Hardened three O1 blades with it this evening--by far the most enjoyable, least stressful heat treatments I've done. The blades came out beautifully--the small amount of scale was blasted clean in the quench, which is usually a sign that the steel hardened nicely.

I'm a happy bladesmith.

Josh

Now THAT looks like a fun toy...

I'd be learning to make razors if I had something like that sitting in my shop... or maybe I'd just be hardening all of the family's stainless steel tableware...

Congrats Josh, I'll have to start saving for another Clearbrook Forge razor.

Sweet! Does this mean no more HT from the forge? I've been going back and forth about getting a small forge (besides the coal forge I built) and saving for a furnace. Then when things get really crazy I look at salt pots... so many choices, so little money

Nice! I've not seen a convection forge before... I've worked with a coal forge all of my life and just not got a propane forge from NC Forge. I guess I am way behind the times.

Originally Posted by Del1r1um

Sweet! Does this mean no more HT from the forge? I've been going back and forth about getting a small forge (besides the coal forge I built) and saving for a furnace. Then when things get really crazy I look at salt pots... so many choices, so little money

If you're mainly interested in heat treating, I'd recommend the furnace. I love my forge and will continue to use it for... well... forging, but it was difficult to do good heat treatments in it. I've junked a bunch of blades lately that didn't harden properly for one reason or another. I think you have less margin for error with razors. A less-than-ideal heat treatment on a knife will be more functional than a razor at the same suboptimal hardness level.

It's hard for me to hold my forge at 1500 degrees F. I have to pretty much turn the gas off, and it starts to sputter.

Another advantage is that it's easier to soak blades for a few minutes to allow the carbon to dissolve fully.

Josh

Congrats Josh!!! I know the feeling and satisfaction of getting a new toy to help with any love we may have. Enjoy it and start turning out more of your beauties.

The furnace looks great, it looks like you will be doing some mighty fine heat treating.

Charlie

That will allow you to do a bunch of different things very accurately. Anneal, normalize, heat treat, temper. Good purchase!

All I can do is drool!! Nice, very nice...