Clay treatment recipes please...

[Riced]

Could someone advise what they use to clay coat blades prior to heat treatment. I have been trying to determine what to use that is not too exotic. Any of your "recipes" or advise would be appreciated. This will be my first attempt in using clay treatment. It will be tanto style blade of 5160 and I would like to try clay.
Thanks for any suggestions.

 

[Mark Van Loon]

one thing simple is plain old fireplace mortar from home depot or lowes,...its very sticky but grabs the blade well,...it comes in calk tubes. just coat the areas of the blade you want to stay soft and scrape off any excess,...or you could use satanite... apply the same way, some people have had problems with the satanite coming off the blade in the quench so they wrap some wire around it,...i havent had that particular promlem when ive used it. make sure to clean the blade well with acetone befor applying the clay. the oils from your skin will make the clay not stick as well. another important thing is to make sure the "clay" is completly dry before going to heat treat, i usually leet mine dry for 24hrs and then bake it at 200 deg in my home oven for 2 hrs. also 5160 is a tricky steel to get a good hamon with, you have to be real careful with the temps and clay placement to get the hamon where you want it. its not impossible but not as easy as 1080-1095.

 

[SkarpKniv]

When you mean dry in the oven, do you mean you put the whole blade and clay into? Than you heat treat it?

 

[BadBamaUmp]

I've been using fireplace mortar from the home supply places. Costs about $3 a tube, plenty for several knives. I split the tube open then "gloop" the contents into a margerine bowl to store.

I put a very thin base coat over the entire blade then put it on thick over the entire blade, then use a putty knife to remove the clay where I want the blade to get hot. I don't worry about drying it or anything..... I just heat and quench. It is a little hard to get off the blade, most of it pops off but there's still a thin layer over all of the blade.

Just the way I do it, hope it helps.

 

[Mark Van Loon]

yep i put the whole blade in the kitchen oven, and run at 200 deg for about 2 hrs....then let it cool to the touch,.. then procede with heat treating. i was having some trouble with the clay puffing up and cracking even after dyring for 24 hours so i tried baking it on with this method and it has worked good so far....the clay does take some getting off after heat treat though.