I finally tried tempering in my home oven instead of a torch

I was one of those people who thought you had to use a torch for tempering or it wouldn't work right. Last month I had a batch of 5 small knives and got tired of babysitting each one with a torch for 2 hours. Threw them in my kitchen oven at 400 degrees for an hour and let them cool overnight. Honestly the color was more consistent and they passed the file test just fine. Has anyone else tried this and noticed a difference in edge retention?

2 comments

2 Comments

casey84323d ago

Oh man, I was exactly the same way! Swore by the torch until I got sick of hovering over it for hours. I did a set of 6 chef knives at 375 for 2 hours (I heard lower and longer is better for thin blades) and they came out great. The color was way more even than my torch work and they've held up through a year of kitchen use no problem.

the_jake23d ago

Yeah, you know what, I had a buddy who tried the oven method on some old hunting knives and he swore by it too. He did 350 for like 3 hours and said it was the most consistent finish he ever got, no weird splotches like with a torch. The thing is, I can never get my oven to hold temp perfect though, it's like 25 degrees off sometimes. I got one of those cheap oven thermometers from the grocery store and it's helped a ton but still not dead on. On thin blades like chef knives, that lower and slower approach makes sense though, less risk of warping the metal or getting hot spots. I might have to try it on a beater blade first before I commit to a full set.