Mark Andrews
Well-Known Member
Just throwing out some thoughts on what I feel has helped me get more consistent results tempering.
Since I started making knives I moved up from a homemade tin can forge to a little atlas forge and then got a used box kiln and then finally a Evenheat oven.
When I tempered I always used a toaster oven with thermometers inside and also a thermocouple inside for even more accurate readings. I was never truly satisfied with the toaster oven. I loaded them with mass to keep it constant as I could but still not really happy with it.
Last fall I got a Rockwell tester and I started testing my blades. They would come out of the quench spot on as far as hardness was concerned. Then I would temper. I like to do the first temper and try and get my first temper reading 61-62 and adjust from there. Well everything I tempered in the toaster oven was coming out lower than I wanted. Always very useable RC numbers but I just wasn't satisfied. I wanted exactly what number I was shooting for. The toaster oven just jumped all over the place even with the mass in it and I really never knew how much until I got my tester.
So finally I dug out my old box kiln that I mentioned earlier and got it set up as a perfect tempering oven. It is so consistent with the temperature it puts me in a good position to get the numbers that I wanted. And I can repeat this every time . My toaster over was just so inconsistent it was pissing me off.
Now even though I have a Evenheat it takes so long to cool down it was extending my day. So in closing I get consistent results with this. So I figured I may pass this on to somebody who felt the same way as me. So keep your eye on Craigslist (that is where I got mine) and you can score a great way to keep things consistent and save time.
Since I started making knives I moved up from a homemade tin can forge to a little atlas forge and then got a used box kiln and then finally a Evenheat oven.
When I tempered I always used a toaster oven with thermometers inside and also a thermocouple inside for even more accurate readings. I was never truly satisfied with the toaster oven. I loaded them with mass to keep it constant as I could but still not really happy with it.
Last fall I got a Rockwell tester and I started testing my blades. They would come out of the quench spot on as far as hardness was concerned. Then I would temper. I like to do the first temper and try and get my first temper reading 61-62 and adjust from there. Well everything I tempered in the toaster oven was coming out lower than I wanted. Always very useable RC numbers but I just wasn't satisfied. I wanted exactly what number I was shooting for. The toaster oven just jumped all over the place even with the mass in it and I really never knew how much until I got my tester.
So finally I dug out my old box kiln that I mentioned earlier and got it set up as a perfect tempering oven. It is so consistent with the temperature it puts me in a good position to get the numbers that I wanted. And I can repeat this every time . My toaster over was just so inconsistent it was pissing me off.
Now even though I have a Evenheat it takes so long to cool down it was extending my day. So in closing I get consistent results with this. So I figured I may pass this on to somebody who felt the same way as me. So keep your eye on Craigslist (that is where I got mine) and you can score a great way to keep things consistent and save time.