Hobby level heat treating oven

Heat treat ovens are one thing (a very important thing), but another is proper quenching oil; used motor oil does not make the cut, for several reasons, firstly it is contaminated by fuel components, then it is too heavy bodies, and also the flash point is too low, all this leads to inconsistent results, not to mention lots of flames. Professional heat treaters limit the time that quenching oils are used, and dispose of used oils frequently and replace with new stock. So far as tempering, I use a nitrate salt mixture, melted in a steel pot with an analog temp. control, heated with a gas burner, this setup does double duty, first for tempering, and second for gun bluing, this is a very fast process with none of the impeccable cleaning ritual demanded by other methods; it is the US Armory method for small arms bluing, it uses a 50/50 mixture of sodium nitrate and potassium nitrate, this is the lowest melting point salt mixture, at around 350F.
 
Ok awesome! Lots of great info and a few things and suggestions for me to look into. Thanks for all the help everyone!!
 
I've wanted a heat treat for some time I priced out the Hot Shot 360 after TOT did a video on it. I would have sworn it was $1380, but my memory is't great. $780? Well worth it but too rich for my blood for how little (I think) I would use it. That's the way to go if you can justify the cost.
 
benmychree, I'm curious where you get your nitre bluing salts? Brownells or mix your own? If mixing your own what is your source?
Would like to be able to make it in small amounts for my once in a blue (pun intended) moon requirements.
 
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