sunobe tip question

i totally agree, i have to figure out the clay part too, i mean i have a general idea of how it works, i just need some working practice and some experimenting with clay, which sounds like a whole lot of fun, if its just practice, i wont feel as bad if i screw up! haha
 
Kelly Cupples has 1095 and 1065 that both throw a great hamon. it is in 1/4 inch barstock so easy forging.
 
Basically low manganese allows the blade to surface harden . A hamon is a surface feature . If too manganese is present ( I like to keep it around .30 or below) it will harden all the way thru steel , this causes and exerts a lot of stress on blade . The results can be no hamon or a weak one . Once I used some high mang. steel and the hamon broke off , right where the hamon joins the blade !!! It was like someone cut it off with a waterjet . Aldo 1075 is inexpensive and the mang level is around .23 . anything over .35 and hamon starts to get weak. Over .35 does not mean you cannot make a hamon , it just wont be as visible as it could be . Aldos w-2 has about same amount mang . It is hard to find steel with low mang , I think aldo had that batch made up just for makers who like to do hamons. Quite a few very well known japanese style smiths use his steel . Jantz also has some sperodised 1095 that puts out a nice hamon also . Get the annealed sperodised stuff , it is like butter to work .
 
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Vance C. said:
i totally agree, i have to figure out the clay part too, i mean i have a general idea of how it works, i just need some working practice and some experimenting with clay, which sounds like a whole lot of fun, if its just practice, i wont feel as bad if i screw up! haha
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Vance, Walter Sorrels has a very good instructional dvd on doing hamons , it takes out a lot of guess work . You can google him , just put in walter sorrels bladesmith . he is also a super teacher ( sensei) and you can call him on his tel. # posted on his site . He is always willing to give you some help and I consider him one of the best swordsmiths in the U.S.A. .. Bubba
 
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