Ht procedure questions

[samuraistuart]

David, heat treat houses and professional knife makers (I would say 95-97%) warm the kiln to the target temp first, let the kiln equalize, and then place the blade in. The faster the heat rate on the low alloy steels....the better. Why that is....I was told but do not recall. It does have something to do with keeping the microstructure of the steel as tight as possible, IIRC. If you want to do otherwise.....your call. But it is not the normal, or best, way to do it. Kiln overshooting target temp being a BAD BAD thing to happen to a blade that's already IN the kiln.

2. I will say this about canola and 1095. It is not the best quenchant for such a shallow hardening steel. You may know that already. I used it extensively and it works well. You will not likely reach max hardness or full hardness, especially on thicker stock. When I got the Parks 50 oil, the results were much better, easily noticeable. So off the bat....canola is a compromise. And you seem so concerned about the extra minute or two a blade takes to warm up.....and you've already compromised on one of the most important aspects of the heat treat......proper quench oil. But I get it....if you're trying this out and you're not getting into it....then canola oil will work for you.

As far as the quench methods.....yes whatever works for you. There will be NO....ZERO....NONE.....difference in the final product using your three methods. They will be identical in the end after tempering. There is SOME.....read VERY VERY little....auto tempering that can occur if taken out and left to air cool after the peralite nose has been beaten. Every single knife I make, from hunter to chef's knife, I take it out after a slow 7 count, check for straigtness and straighten if needed as Ms-Mf is reached, and then back into oil until room temp. Some guys will do any and all straightening during the temper. But, again, you can believe me or not, but there is NO difference at all in the final product. If you would rather hear that from a metallurgist, I invite you to go to hypefreeblades and search for a thread, I believe I started it, asking the exact same question about leave in oil vs air cool after PN reached. Kevin answered.

Again, your two questions about kiln hot vs cold and quench procedure....I had the exact same questions. and Kevin answered them for me....and I repeated those answers to you. I have some understanding of this....but not like Kevin. He can rattle stuff of the top of his head that is just amazing.

3. As far as anti scale....I would just get a quart of ATP-641. Advanced Technical Products. they'll send it to you and then bill you.