My first try with 1095 and differential hardening

I also would advise not to heat blade up to much after ht , clay . Heat is a big enemy of a hamon . It also can make the spine too soft as it already is around 40-45 rc where as edge is around 60 average . I cant count the blades I have messed up hamon by tempering it to much . The japanese use a flash temper to around 300 f . If you temper too much spine can become too soft and may bend . This info comes from doing hamon for about 35 years on swords. You should clay the handle also or you defeat the purpose of DHT it needs to be softer than blade to allow a little flex when useing it .Especially in a larger blade.... I would use 1 temper at 400 f for 1 hour maximum . 2-3 tempers and your hamon will weaken and you will never know it . try it and see the difference in the brightness of Ha (edge) Bubba
 
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well i already tempered this small blade for 2hrs at 400deg, i guess i wont do another cycle

so i should do only once cycle when tempering for a hamon??

the edge on this small knife is setting at .040" right now so it wont take much to grind it down to size, guess i will see tonight what i have. I still couldnt see much of anything in the way of a hamon after i cleaned the blade off. im still real worried that i am missing something here!!!


thanks
steve
 
Lerch said:
well i already tempered this small blade for 2hrs at 400deg, i guess i wont do another cycle

so i should do only once cycle when tempering for a hamon??

the edge on this small knife is setting at .040" right now so it wont take much to grind it down to size, guess i will see tonight what i have. I still couldnt see much of anything in the way of a hamon after i cleaned the blade off. im still real worried that i am missing something here!!!


thanks
steve
Click to expand...

Steve, I really hate to be the bearer of BAD NEWS! But I do believe I have found something that is MISSING, I guess the best way to break this kind of news is just to spill it out,


you know like ripping a band aid off fast versus pulling it slowly? So, this is what I see that's missing to me....it's quite simple really, it's called....fun....I can't see any of it from here! Knife making is not about worring about the stuff you have limited control over. While it will be one of the first things you think of everyday, it shoul still be FUN!!! And if you find yourself not havingfun take a step back and look at what you're doing, find out what it is and either MASTER it or QUIT it! I was in the sam eboat as you're in not too long ago. Hamons are a wonderful addition to a blade, a unique surprise fo rthe maker. I say it is a surprise because steel has a mind of it's on, it will do what it wants t do, you can't control that. What you can do is pace yourself, know that a hamon or some other aspect of knife making will give you fits of rage andcrying jags of tears at times, but so far I can't describe the feeling I get when I make a knife that turns out beter than I saw it in my head or on paper, kinda close to my son being born.

Remember a hamon does not make a knife, sometimes you might miss a step or something as simple as your supplier got a new load in and it's no the same (chemistry wise) as the last stuff you bought. Never worry about anything to do with knife making, if your too serious about it, you will burn out real quick and then it's like a JOB! The only way to beat it, is to master it, in whatever type of steel you use, except those that you can't get a hamon on. It's best to give it your best shot and then move on if it didn't work out, I'm speaking form experience here, I stayed on one knife for almost a month, time better spent learning on another knife! If it doesn't show itself on the first etch, move on. The thing is, you could've be working on making knives instead of sanding and polishing! Hope this helps, and remember ONLY FUN IS ALLOWED IN THE SHOP!!!! Rex
 
Haha,

well i am enjoying this whole process, im promise:)

I have had a lot of fun so far, just get a little confused at times if i feel i am doing something wrong but cant figure out what it is . I get pretty bull headed when i know something "should" work but doesnt and i cant resolve why

but trust me, im still having fun

thanks
steve
 
Lerch said:
well i already tempered this small blade for 2hrs at 400deg, i guess i wont do another cycle

so i should do only once cycle when tempering for a hamon??

the edge on this small knife is setting at .040" right now so it wont take much to grind it down to size, guess i will see tonight what i have. I still couldnt see much of anything in the way of a hamon after i cleaned the blade off. im still real worried that i am missing something here!!!


thanks
steve
Click to expand...


Steve I didnt mean to confuse you , You can still get a great hamon with 2 cycles

or even 3 . I usually speak from the view That I forge a lot of exotic folded steels and

after forging the carbon level is down to .70 or so . You definately need to have fun

when making blades otherwise whats the point . I always have fun . Doing hamons is a

relativly complicated process to a new maker . The greatest part about finally getting

something right is when finally hit a beauty, second most fun is figuring how exactly

you did it ? A hamon is like an artists canvas you never know what you will get .

You can perfect certain types of hamons , and there are many, but its extremely hard if

not impossibly to get that same "hamon" its like a painting. the more attention you pay

to certain details the better it looks ! although not all the time .I have had many

failures

That can make you want to quit or stop for a while .

I can do reasonably about 6 distinct types pretty well . The the beauty of knifemaking

and working with steel is learning . You never get too good to learn or too young to

start , and then pass the information on to someone else. There are many tecniques

about the process , even the japanese who pretty much reinvented the

chinese ,method most of them disagree on many issues but, they all seem to make

good things happen with steel. The whole thing is a learning process. I have learned

in my old age ERR, maturity to always take your time . Be patient . Heck sometimes it

takes me months to make certain blades ! I took me quite a while to learn some things but, I was having a good time while I was doing it ...... Good luck Bubba
 
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And Finally We Have Hamon!!! lol

Well i took the smaller blade i clay quenched last night and brought it up to 400grit while i was at work today, in the light i though i noticed a hint of a temper line so i got pretty excited. I took the blade to a buddy of mine who usually has a pretty good eye and is a bit of a knife nut (so he knew what he was looking for), well he didnt see crap so i hit low again. This was about the time that McClellan told me to have fun again, omen maybe??? Well once home i took the blade to 600grit and tried 700grit on a trizact belt though i dont know how well they work. anyway i couldnt see anything in my garage, maybe just a little more than a hint that i saw earlier. I brought the blade inside under incandescent lighting and bam i could see the temper lines!!! I think the issue has been that in my garage all i have is flourescent lighting and the same is true for my day job, i guess with my eyes i was just not able to see it until different lighting caught the blade

anyway here are some pics, this is the blade at 1500grit and four 1 minute soaks in PCB Etchant, i sanded it with the 1500grit after each previous etch and the final one right before the photos i simply wiped off with a cotton towel and windex.
finallyhamon.jpg

finallyhamon2.jpg


im gonna sand it and polish it up with some Birchwood Casey metal polish, i dont know what grit size it is but it is intended for silver and gold in lay on firearms so i guess it must be pretty fine, not sure what the results on steel will be

thanks
steve

PS, Im havin fun again!!! :)
 
well i polished the blade up a bit and one side went great, the other not so much. In the previous pics you can see the last pic where the blade faces to the right there seems to be grind marks. Well i thought i had polished all of these out but i guess not. well i anyway after i etched for the 4th time i polished the blade up and i felt like i needed to sand some more on the side i have been talking about. I did that and now since then that side the hamon seems to be washed out or almost sanded away, even after etching again. I actually etched the blade 3 more times and sanded at 1500grit after each etch and the other side the hamon seemed to get more defined each time and the side i have been talking about just seemed to polish away each time.

here is pics to show what im talking about

The "good" side
polishedhamon.jpg


and the "bad" side
polishedhamon2.jpg


any ideas? My ultimate goal would to have the blade be a nice soft satin finish with a distinct clear hamon line, but thats only in best wishes lol

anyway tell me what ya think

thanks
steve
 
you are well on your way , now that you have done one , you are hooked on hamons LOL Looks good to me Bubba
 
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