A little advice please re: Knife Kiln

[Taxcollector]

Ok, so I originally set out to find a nice custom knife for my son. Basically, something he could pass on someday. I asked for some rx on Bowsite, and someone answered with a photo of a knife they built with the suggestion that would'nt it be great to MAKE a knife to pass on... the rest as they say is history! I've got the bug.
Here's my question; My wife does glass work and needs a kiln. I can see the day(someday) that maybe I might need a kiln for knife work. The issue is most glass kilns only need to heat to 1700 degs. Is 1700 degs enough for knife work? or, should I be looking at 2000 deg kilns? I'm not trying to put the horse before the cart, but, I'd like to kill two birds with one ...arrow, if possible. Also, what size (interior) should I be looking at?

Tks/Mike

[kbaknife]

1700 degrees is more than sufficient for the forging types of steels that only need around 1500 to harden.
however, if you want to heat treat stainless steels - and you MAY - you'll need upwards of 1900+ degrees.
One concern is size.
Knifemaking ovens often are more concerned with narrow lateral dimension and extra LENGTH.
As an example, I offer this link:
Right on this opening page, notice the dimensions of the "knife ovens" as compared to the kilns.
   http://www.evenheat-kiln.com/

[Taxcollector]

Thank you for the reply. The Evenheat website shows a kiln with a model name of Copper. It's in the glass section, but, looks like it would be good for steel. What do ya think?

Mike

[LC]

I ran onto a small pottery kiln for free and thought I could use it for knife making. It was a top loading and it took so long to come up to temp then when you opened the top all the heat came out at you and while trying to work in it. I was gona make a hanger style to drop the knife through a small hole in the top but when it took so long to come up to temp I gave up and let my wife use it for pottery.

[kbaknife]

It's the same controller as on the knife ovens.
It's basically the same oven, but I'd go 220V.
That's good.
Bad news is that it's only 9 inches deep.
Just get the knife oven.
One thing I've learned in my knifemaking career is that when you try to just get by, you invariably come up short.
Just get what you need in the first place or wait until you can.

[Hattrick]

Karl
Thats good advice when it comes to just about anything. If u short cut it , it ends costing  double

[OconeeDan]

The only thing I have to add is to what LC was saying, you need a side opening door so you can drag the blade out with a hook or tongs for heat treating.  If you have to lift the top off, you may have a problem getting the blade out without getting burned.
Dan