Howdy gentlemen! Santa was good to me this year, he gave me a heattreat oven with digital controls! Now that I have it what do I do with it? Anyone got some good recipes for A2, D2 and O-1 that will make a tough resiliant knife with good edge holding on each of these steels??
Would be much appreciated!

OH! and ATS-34 too!
Thanks everyone.

Thanks Janet!

I want one!!

Oh, nevermind, it'd make my shop too hot and melt the snow off of my roof....

just remember that this is an old english translation from a spanish recipe.Translated from "Libro de Cozina", a spanish recipe book. 1529 edition (that's *year*, not latest edition)

Roast Cat As It Should Be Prepared

Take a cat that should be plump: and cut its throat, and once it is dead cut off its head, and throw it away for this is not to be eaten; for it is said that he who eats the brains will lose his own sense and judgement. Then skin it very cleanly, and open it and and clean it well; and then wrap it in a clean linen cloth and bury it in the earth where it should remain for a day and a night; and then take it out and put it on a spit; and roast it over the fire, and when beginning to roast, baste it with good garlic and oil, and when you are finished basting it, beat it well with a green branch; and this should be done until it is well roasted, basting and beating; and when it is roasted carve it as if it were a rabbit or kid and put it on a large plate; and take the garlic and oil mixed with good broth so that it is coarse, and pour it over the cat and you can eat it for it is a good dish. ---------------------------------- :lol:

I'll have it my way at Burger King, thanks!

Janet: On a more serious note, my advice is to get busy and calibrate your furnace using either high quality ceramic cones, Tem-Pil pellets, or, better yet, a digital panel meter with a high temperature thermocouple.
You may be surprised by the results. My furnaces specified 1% accuracy, but, did not deliver that over the entire range, and, remember that 1% at 2000F is still 20 degrees-enough to matter.
Once you get the data on what your furnace really does, you can follow the published specs for whatever steels you use-generally, stay around the middle of the temperature ranges provided until you get consistent, repeatable results. Do check the hardness of every blade on a reliable Rockwell tester-it is the only way to know where you are ending up.
Remember, heat treating is a science, and, IMO, is best approached as such. That way, you can achieve consistent results, which can be evaluated through real-world testing until you develop your own formulas that give you the results you want.

Have fun

RJ Martin

Dont think this is exactly what you are looking for, but it is so cold here at the moment, this sounds good.
www.bmcneil.com/chili.html (http://www.bmcneil.com/chili.html) ;)