got a kiln now what?

[knitebee]

So I fell into a sweet deal for a kiln that I couldn't pass up. So now besides finding an outlet for some 1050 steel what else do i need to know? What do I need for a quenching?

Inside deminsions of the kiln are 24in dia and 27in tall so I'll easly be able to heat treat full breastplates. From what I was told its cappable of 2300deg which should be high enough from what I've read.

So are there any good books or websites out there for me to read over?

Brian

[Kenwrec Wulfe]

So I fell into a sweet deal for a kiln that I couldn't pass up. So now besides finding an outlet for some 1050 steel what else do i need to know? What do I need for a quenching?

Inside deminsions of the kiln are 24in dia and 27in tall so I'll easly be able to heat treat full breastplates. From what I was told its cappable of 2300deg which should be high enough from what I've read.

So are there any good books or websites out there for me to read over?

Brian

2300 is more than enough heat.

For qunching you just need a bucket, can, barrel large enough to plunge the largest piece you will be working with into completely submerged.

As far as the medium... water is fine. Som use brine (salt water), or oil or even trasmission fluid. Up to you really. I have heard of accounts where in period, they used urine, blood and all sorts of liquids to see what had what kinds of effects.

For our purposes with 1050, I have not seen a significant difference in the mediums available - except that oil catches fire and stays lit, transmission fluid lights, but goes out when the piece submerges and brine has an odor when you quench.

[Kenwrec Wulfe]

For heating, you only need to bring the piece to about 1500 degrees to harden, which is a nice red color...however, I have found that if you just bring it to that red, the transfer from kiln to quench cools it to below the temp you want when you quench, so..... I bring my pieces to a dull orange (1800) before the transfer to quench. That way, in my limited space, I have the time to grab the piece where I want, with care, and quench it directionally to cause the least amount of deformity.

[Kenwrec Wulfe]

As far as electrical connections, I offer this advice for the kiln.... Though the normal operating power might be what your kiln indicates (mine is 30amp) there are spikes that will occur. If you get just enough to power it, you are sure to trip a breaker. I went with a 50amp for mine.

[Kenwrec Wulfe]

Can you tell that I dont have anything to do at work at the moment?

[RalphS]

Radiation heat from a kiln at red heat will give you burns in a matter of seconds, without even having to touch anything hot. Make sure you have proper protection on anything you don't want singed before you open the door/lid and start poking around in the kiln.

If you want to dig into the deeper details of heat treating steel, there's a great on-line book by Verhoeven, you can find it e.g. here: http://www.feine-klingen.de/PDFs/verhoeven.pdf

[raito]

Kenwrec, do you mean (A)mps instead of (V)olts?

[Thomas Powers]

And stale urine has a most amusing smell when you quench red hot steel in it---at least for knives for something with the surface area of armour I would think it to be nigh on lethal!


Theophilus gives the uring quench in "Divers Arts" written in 1120 AD.

"Sources for the History of the Science of Steel" has a collection of suggested quench mediums from the Renaissance including worm water and raddish juice.

Thomas

[Kenwrec Wulfe]

Kenwrec, do you mean (A)mps instead of (V)olts?

Doh!! Yes, sorry. I mean Amps.

Thank you Your Excellency.

[Murdock]

You get your's working again yet Kenwrec?

[knitebee]

Thanks guys. now to get it set up and get some 1050 to play with.

RalphS that book is going to take me a few days to digest but is going to be of great help.

Kenwrec, thank you much for the information on quenches, what do you use and why? As to the circut feeding the kiln allready looking into that and should be good, if not will not take much to upgrade it.

Brian

[Kenwrec Wulfe]

You get your's working again yet Kenwrec?

Nah, ground was still too hard up until this past weekend and I was at Rites of Spring at the Pas down there. Was a good day

I am gonna be digging into it this weekend. I have 4 commissions for armour now that I need to get going on!

[Kenwrec Wulfe]

Thanks guys. now to get it set up and get some 1050 to play with.

RalphS that book is going to take me a few days to digest but is going to be of great help.

Kenwrec, thank you much for the information on quenches, what do you use and why? As to the circut feeding the kiln allready looking into that and should be good, if not will not take much to upgrade it.

Brian

Certainly! Happy to share what I have learned. I use water myself. It is an easily replenishable resource. I am looking at getting a "barrel heater" that I can control the temp on. I need one for winter work anyway, but I thought I would play with water temp and see if that can reduce warpage some.

[RalphS]

I thought I would play with water temp and see if that can reduce warpage some.

Try to normalise the piece after final forming, but before heat treating: Heat to critical, let it soak for a brief while, and then let it cool to cold enough to handle, without quenching.

Then check the shape if you want to be doubly sure (gently bend in shape if it's off, but don't use a hammer), and reheat to proper hardening temperature, let it soak for the prescribed time, and quench. Anneal immediately once the temperature has dropped to 70 C.

That should cut down on warping. It's probably caused by residual stress in the metal, or by incomplete austenitisation before the quench.

[Kenwrec Wulfe]

That was another thing I was going to play with once I get my electrical fixed. Thank you for the suggestion!

I honestly have not encountered that much warping, but I thought that doing a normalize would help reduce anything that might occur.