Brent: heat threatment.

Blade and lock has to be brought to 1550F and quenched in lukewarm oil until cool. Cool beans! Considering that regular kitchen gas stove can barely manage 575F, I have to roll a big gun.



This digitally controlled electric kiln can easily manage 2300F and then some (hi ConEdison!), so I put this reactor to warm up, which should take about an hour till it reaches this temperature, and went to construct blade support.



It is nothing else but a regular wire cloth hanger, which surprisenly survived 3 kiln cycles already. All brittle and cranky, it will last another time for sure. I tied the blade and the lock with the soldering wire used in.. well, wire solders (upd: welders) in body shops. So when the blade will reach desired F, I'll use pliers to pull them both out by wire.

To be continued.

P.S. By the time I finfished writng it, temperature inside the Reactor reached 1350F.

Brent: it is done.

Science of metal heat threatment is a true one with the thousands of years in the making, but surprisenly it comes down to this (for my steel anyway) - heat it up to 1550F, drop in warm oil, temper at 375-475F for one hour and let cool, then repeat if desired. Simple.

So: step no.1 - check.



I brought it alittle up so by the time the blade hits the oil, it will be exactly 1550 or so. Soak time - general rule is 1 min per 1mm of thickness, so my blade is about 4mm, I put 5 min on timer since the temperature inside The Reactor dropped by 100F after I opened top lid to place things in it.

Step 2 - check.



In a times when cell phones were big, I went to my garage where I fix my poor cars and asked them for a can of used motor oil. They told me to take all of it, all 500 gallons. I showed a little 1L glass container. They insisted on 500G. Long story short - I have this can since and use it for heat threatment all the time.

You can use all kind of oils, including sunflower and olive (I'm not joking!), but motor oil puts some rust protection, does not burn eaisly and flames are soon dosed off by itself. Stinks, yes, but only for my wife. Perfume to my nose indeed.

So after about a minute - NEVER swirl cooling parts in there, only gentle ups and downs, ot it will bend for sure! - took it off and wiped with solvent. Beauty.



Stove oven was already preheated to 450F..

Step 3 - check.

At 6.10pm it went to temper for 1 hour..



.. wrapped in aluminum foil so it does not stink the whole kitchen. Ye right..

The most critical and important stage is done with flying colors. After tempering I'll straighten the parts if necessary and we can start put all these things tougether! I expect to hit 57-58HRC of hardness as promised by the still manufacturer, Bob Eggerling. =^_^=

Brent: it is done.

It's producing nice clean "ding!" upon hitting it with metal stick. It is hard and flexible enough. To all my knowledge, heat threating process was a smashing success, thanks to the technology and info from the steel maker.

Now sanding and elbow grease again...