Heat treating

[mirage100]

I need some help with heat treating a ak47 receiver. Would this be the place to get help?

 

[mirage100]

The question is really about the size of my furnace. I got a table top lab grade furnace that is 7x5x10 inches. All the videos I watch surround the receiver with fire bricks to keep the direct heat off the receiver. They are using a big kiln to heat treat. As you can tell my furnace is small. It has lots of heating coils in it. So the question is can I use this furnace without surrounding the receiver with fire bricks? PS if I need to put fire brick around it where can it get small bricks?

 

[Alexander McGilton]

I have little knowledge on firearms so I won't comment on the needs of this particular project. At home I have a small heat treatment oven made from a kiln that I upgraded the coils and thermostat. If you are thinking of going into knife making or tool making you may as well get a larger oven. Buy new or upgrade an old kiln. While looking for an inexpensive knife making ovens, I did find that the usual direct from China websites are selling cheap induction transformer and coils. in theory you could open air heat treat a part of infinite length. Concerning the bricks, you can use a wet tile saw to cut the fire bricks, they are like a masonry foam so they cut easy. Though don't be tempted to cut them fast as they tend to crack. Also given them ample time to dry as the steam from inside can make the shatter.

 

[RJSakowski]

There is also fire clay and refractory mortar that could be used to make a custom chamber for the receiver.

 

[benmychree]

When I worked during my apprenticeship and later, we always packed the work in peach pit charcoal in a metal box, that protected the work from decarburization and scaling, later, peach pit charcoal was not available, and they used ground coke.

 

[mirage100]

just found fire blanket material at amazon.Don't see why this won't work?

 

[benmychree]

just found fire blanket material at amazon.Don't see why this won't work?

I think it would disintegrate under temperatures that high.

 

[mirage100]

says it is Fire proof to 2400F ?

 

[benmychree]

Maybe I should have said degrade rather than disintegrate, I suppose that you could heat a sample of it before attempting the HT job ---

 

[weewill]

You can just heat treat the pin holes.This could be done with a torch. Templac can be used to get to the correct temp to heat treat it. If you do harden the complete receiver drill trunnion holes before heat treat.