Recommendation? What just happened?

[NickHFSS]

Hello everyone , so today I was making a bushcraft knife , i turned on the kiln as usual , got it up to 832C as usual , let it rest for 30min , put the blade , let it soak for 15min , I have the kiln next to my balcony door , I opened it to bring in the oil and I noticed temp started to drop rapidly , it came down to 813 , it was strange , it never did such thing , but I didn't do anything thought cold wind blew in it from opening the door or whatever , meanwhile the 15 min passed , quenched the blade , file tested it and didn't like how hard it was , decided to re do it , so I normalized it at 870C , when taking it out it was non magnetic , let it air cool , went to anneal it , heated to 760C let it sit for 15 min , reduced the temp to 660 and left it for half hour to let it cool , half hour later I come back and see the temp is up at 813 even though it was set at 660 , i opened the kiln and the color was so bright I guarantee it was higher then 850C, so I took out the blade and basically half of it is gone...
My question , any ideas what could be wrong with kiln?
minor question the blade is not suitable for order with dimensions even if it was perfect , to not throw it away would it be a good idea to make me a knife from it or is it burned and garbage now?

Thanks in advance

 

[dirc]

most definitely sounds like your kiln temperature gauge or sensor is fried - or the circuit that controls temperature

the blade might be saved but much depends on the base steel type - is it 1095? 80crv2? or stainless?

if it was stainless, you are fine, they need higher temps near 1000c
if not stainless, then roll the dice.... maybe having high manganese % would help

 

[DevinT]

Not sure but it’s either the thermocouple or the controller.

Hoss

 

[MasterBlaster1084]

If there is a temp prob in your kiln you can try cleaning the tip off with alcohol, might have some carbon buildup on it.