Blade finishes

Workingsloth777

Workingsloth777

Joined
Mar 10, 2019
Messages
306
So I just entered a charity raffle on BHQ and the prize is a custom marifone/strider msg. I was looking over the blade and noticed the strange distressed line in it. So I looked at the specs and saw that it's a hamon finish, which inspired me to start this thread. What's your favorite blade finish and why? Also if anyone has some info on hamons that would be great :)

Thx
Workingsloth777
 
Satin is my favorite though polished has the added benefit of being more corrosion resistant. I don't like the look of stone washed, it just doesn't look good to me and supposibly it makes it more prone to corrosion.
 
I've always really liked acid stone wash. I guess it's a bit played out these days but I just love how it hides wear. It looks good and you can use the snot out of whatever the blade is and it will blend right in with the established finish. Very smart and aesthetic, in my opinion.
 
I have 2 Mcnees Dixon’s with the Hamon and I love them! To me they don’t look “cookie cutter”

Satin for me is just “blah”.... don’t get me wrong, my most carried knife is in satin (para 3 in cruwear). I also enjoy a decent black DLC.
 
I might add that my favorite finish depends very much on the knife and its use so if it was a working knife I'd want a nice stonewash and if it was for well anything besides "work" I'd like a mirror polish.
 
Satin for me. Have seen mirror polished knives that look great, but to me those would be more for collecting. Not a fan of stonewashed, as it reminds me of galvanized.
 
It really depends on the type of knife, but in general I do think I prefer acid/stonewashed.

Not a fan of mirror polished.
 
As I understand A hamon (Japanese, literally "blade pattern") is a visual outline of the hardest area of a clay-hardened blade. ... A special clay is hand-applied to each blade prior to the heat-treat process. This helps prevents the steel from cooling too quickly. After the blade is quenched and has cooled, the clay is removed.this leaves a harder edge on a softer spine . :)
 
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1.Stonewash
2. Satin
3. Tumbled
All really close

I saw that custom man is it gorgeous. The most attractive Strider I have saw
 
R.c.s said:
As I understand A hamon (Japanese, literally "blade pattern") is a visual outline of the hardest area of a clay-hardened blade. ... A special clay is hand-applied to each blade prior to the heat-treat process. This helps prevents the steel from cooling too quickly. After the blade is quenched and has cooled, the clay is removed.this leaves a harder edge on a softer spine . :)
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That's pretty awesome! Thx for the info ;)
 
a well done Stonewash-Like the look, like the way it hides scratches-good working finish. I can adapt to most.
 
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Poliwash - My term that the industry hasn't adopted for some reason. The polished stonewash that Spyderco has used on several models: Slysz Bowie, Manix LW BD1, etc.
 
I like a dark stonewash on my blades. They hide the wear well and look great doing it.

ltagKXl.jpg


That knife has been carried and used a lot, but it doesn’t look like it has a scratch on it. In the right lighting you can see the major ones, but for the most part they stay hidden. I’ve been tempted to try my hand at stonewashing the blade on my CruWear Manix, I think it’d look pretty dang great.
 
T.L.E. Sharp said:
Poliwash - My term that the industry hasn't adopted for some reason. The polished stonewash that Spyderco has used on several models: Slysz Bowie, Manix LW BD1, etc.
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I may have to change my favorites to this. Kind of the best of both worlds. You'd think that spyderco would have jumped on the opportunity to call it poliwash. They've done stuff like that before, hence the soon to be released endela. ;)
 
High Grit Satin Finish is my visual favorite, practically speaking a well done stonewash is the most practical at hiding wear, DLC can look good but it's annoying in terms of usability if you like your stuff to look decent and not randomly scratched :confused::D
 
T.L.E. Sharp said:
Poliwash - My term that the industry hasn't adopted for some reason. The polished stonewash that Spyderco has used on several models: Slysz Bowie, Manix LW BD1, etc.
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"Stoneished" ?

I was enamored with this finish when I got my Slycz Bowie... Still my favorite.
 
T.L.E. Sharp said:
Poliwash - My term that the industry hasn't adopted for some reason. The polished stonewash that Spyderco has used on several models: Slysz Bowie, Manix LW BD1, etc.
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This^

One of the nicest examples I have seen is on the Spyderco Southard. The polish ontop of the stonewash creates a beautiful 3d effect that I find extremely captivating.

Mirror polished dlc is a rare blade finish that produces an outstanding look almost like reflective polished black hematite.

A real hamon is extremely beautiful but it really isn’t technically a blade finish. Rather it is an artefact left over from the edge being a different hardness from the rest of the blade.

Sometimes certain blades and steels will automatically hamon due to differences in he blade thickness causing the variations in how the steel is heat treated.

Look at this knife. Just under the edge (which is facing upwards in this picture) You can see a faint cloudy line. That is an autohamon that formed when the knife was heat treated.

OjEOg7Q.jpg
 
Workingsloth777 said:
I may have to change my favorites to this. Kind of the best of both worlds. You'd think that spyderco would have jumped on the opportunity to call it poliwash. They've done stuff like that before, hence the soon to be released endela. ;)
Click to expand...

Yes, one would think... @Sal Glesser you're more than welcome to use "Poliwash" for that finish. :D
 
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