Tempering spring steel with a toaster oven has a catch

I kept seeing folks online say you can temper small blades in a regular toaster oven. Tried it last weekend with some 1095 stock and the oven cycled way hotter than the dial said. My kitchen thermometer showed it hit 500 when I wanted 400, so the edge went soft and a file dug right in. After three tries I found the trick is to park a brick inside to hold heat and run it 20 minutes past the beep. Has anyone else had to build a baffle or just use their actual forge for this step?

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williams.sage28d ago

yeah i watched a youtube video a while back where a dude tested like 5 toaster ovens with a thermocouple and every single one ran way off from the dial. apparently the internal sensor is garbage on most of them and the heating element just blasts until it overshoots. the brick trick sounds solid tho, i remember he used a fire brick too and it smoothed out the swings a lot. honestly for 1095 i'd just use a torch and a bucket of oil, way less guesswork than babysitting a toaster.