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Old timer told me tempering in the oven ruins blade steel, he was dead on
Bob from the local shop in Springfield warned me last fall not to use my kitchen oven for tempering knives. He said the temperature swings are too wild and it messes with the hardness. I figured he was just being old school and I ran three blades through at 400 degrees anyway. All three came out soft as butter and wouldn't hold an edge longer than a week. I picked up a used toaster oven with a thermostat for $25 and it made a world of difference. Has anyone else run into bad advice from the older guys that sounded wrong but turned out right?
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kelly.emma5d agoRising Star
@miabennett nailed it. That exact thing happened to me with a set of hunting knives I was real proud of. My granddad kept telling me to just use a cheap toaster oven, but I thought I knew better. Ended up with blades that would bend if you looked at them wrong. The worst part was the grain structure looked all wrong under a loupe, all uneven and patchy. Now I've got two dedicated toaster ovens on a shelf in the garage for nothing but heat treating. Was a hard lesson but at least I didn't ruin as many as some folks.
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