Anyone have any experience with the (knifedogs/Paragon HT oven) or (Jen Ken -EDC HT oven)? Looking to buy first HT oven.

[Steelhog]

Hey all. Finally looking to pull the trigger on my own HT oven. Since I am just a hobby maker and only make smaller (under 12") knives I have found both the (Knifedogs/Paragon HT oven) or the (Jen Ken - EDC HT oven). Both can be had for under $1500 and is really the budget I would like to stick with. Any issues with the HT ovens listed above? Any reason to choose one vs the other?

Any and all help is greatly appreciated. I will mostly still be only doing simple carbon steels so nothing too complex.

 

[N.W. Gean]

I've had the knife dogs oven since November, only used it a couple times before this past week. I think the 14" capacity is plenty for what I do (7-10" overall length knives). It gets to 1550F in about 40 minutes, although I've found it runs smoother and recovers faster if I let it get to temp and then sit there for an hour. I imagine all ovens work this way. The only issue I've had with it is during a cold winter day before I knew I needed to let it soak at temp, it couldn't recover from 1500 to 1550 after opening the door and quenching a blade, but I really think that was due to not giving it any soak time.

I've only heat treated Pop's 8670, which is ready to heat treat as is, so I've never tried anything higher than 1550. I'd have to think it would work just fine for 1600 if you were normalizing steel.

Overall, I think it's a great value for the money.

 

[Steelhog]

I've had the knife dogs oven since November, only used it a couple times before this past week. I think the 14" capacity is plenty for what I do (7-10" overall length knives). It gets to 1550F in about 40 minutes, although I've found it runs smoother and recovers faster if I let it get to temp and then sit there for an hour. I imagine all ovens work this way. The only issue I've had with it is during a cold winter day before I knew I needed to let it soak at temp, it couldn't recover from 1500 to 1550 after opening the door and quenching a blade, but I really think that was due to not giving it any soak time.

I've only heat treated Pop's 8670, which is ready to heat treat as is, so I've never tried anything higher than 1550. I'd have to think it would work just fine for 1600 if you were normalizing steel.

Overall, I think it's a great value for the money.

Thanks for the info. The knife dogs oven is almost $200 cheeper so I'm glad you have had good luck. I will also do pops 8670 and would love to start getting into 52100.

 

[Skinner79]

I bought the KM 14 about a year ago. I went ahead and got the "fancy" programable Sentinal smart controller. I'm only a hobbyist, never owned a HT oven before, so nothing to campare it to, but so far it's been great. Unit seems well built and easy to use. I got a 240v version FWIW. I don't make big knives either. Having the ability to HT my own stuff, especially stainless, is really satisfying. And fun!