I'm going to stress relieve a bar of C1018 that has been well machined, releasing considerable stress and causing the expected warpage, which has been corrected by bending. After stress relieving the bar, I'll do the finish machining. The bar will be a holding fixture for sharpening knives for a power planer. I'd like to avoid scaling the bar excessively. I don't have a controlled atmosphere furnace, nor do I have any stainless foil on hand. Can any of you suggest a method to protect the steel from excessive scaling? Barring anything else, I could drizzle argon into the furnace, but that's no guarantee it will not scale., and the prolonged cycle could prove quite costly gas-wise. How about it, heat treat experts?
Harold