1095 Hammon Help!

N

Nic.

Joined
Dec 8, 2014
Messages
814
I've started playing around with making hammon lines...but can't figure out that I'm doing wrong. You can definately tell the hardened from soft steel...but it doesn't look half as nice as I was hoping, the hardened steel is just turning dark rather than producing a vivid line.

I used diluted ferric chloride, put the blade in it for one second then rubbed it back with steel wool and repeated this process. I tired a more diluted solution, but had the same issue. What am I doing wrong?

 
How are you controlling your line?? Are you using clay??? We need a lot more information to be able to help you out. Please outline your heat treating process as detailed as possible. Then we may be able to take an educated guess at how you might improve.

To me your blades look like you edge heated and quenched. This is not a Hamon. Please update as to your process then we can possibly help.
 
Polishing the blade with a metal polish like Flitz or Mothers may help. I used some Mothers on an edge quenched 1084 blade and it looked sweet! Just put some on rag and rub the blade for a few minutes.
 
Looks nice and so do your grinds! I would also try polishing it out. Maybe Daniel will chime in as his edge quenches look very defined.
 
I'll try I'm in again and say I've been gone and not been very active for some time and I noticed there is a definite Improvement in your grinding.
 
The lines are what you see. You might define them slightly but they are not going to get much better. You did either an edge heat and quench or edge quench. From the sweep in the lines I would say the former. If you used clay it was probably too thick. What you have is a quench line and not a true hamon.
 
Thanks for the replies. I've tried with clay...and got similar results. With these, the whole blade was heated, but only the edge was quenched. I Sanded the blades down again and tried with white vinegar and got a cooler looking line...still working on how to do a real hammon.
Thanks again for the complements and help!
 
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