Damascus and a hamon? Possible?

[gixxer]

I think I know the answer to this question but I had to ask for gee whiz info. Has anybody made a blade from damascus and differentially hardened it to make a hamon?

 

[Michael Rader]

Hi Gixxer, I've done it (sorry no pics) and as you know the damascus etches differently between the hardened and unhardened zones. Quite striking, but not necessarily beautiful in the way that a regular hamon line looks on straight W2, 1095, etc... Only one way to know for yourself...

______________
ABS Mastersmith

www.raderblade.com

 

[argel55]

I would not call it a hamon but you can see a difference in the harden area if you do it that way. Some harden the whole blade so it will etch at the same rate and draw the back. If you just harden the edge area then you can see a definite difference from the etching process.

 

[Danbo]

Just a personal preference, but I don't like to see a hardening line on damascus. I like the damascus to etch evenly.

 

[Ed Schempp]

When steel is hardened it is martinsitic and the steel is in a body centered crystal. Normalized or annealed steel has a face centered crystaline structure. The first is more or less a 3D crystal the Second a 2D crystaline structure. When you etch the hard steel it will refract the pattern over about 160 degrees of view. Annealed steel refracts the pattern about 40 degrees of view. This is why etched damascus "looks" better than normalized or annealed or non hardened steel....take care...Ed

 

[Danbo]

When steel is hardened it is martinsitic and the steel is in a body centered crystal. Normalized or annealed steel has a face centered crystaline structure. The first is more or less a 3D crystal the Second a 2D crystaline structure. When you etch the hard steel it will refract the pattern over about 160 degrees of view. Annealed steel refracts the pattern about 40 degrees of view. This is why etched damascus "looks" better than normalized or annealed or non hardened steel....take care...Ed

Thank you, Ed. :thumbup:

I knew there was a scientific reason for my preference!

 

[Salem Straub]

I like to harden damascus fully as well. It can look messy having a quench line combined with pattern welds.

However, the majority of Japanese swords over time were highly pattern welded steel with a hamon. Since they prefer a low contrast, mono-steel look with weld lines only coming from flux/decarb, the hamon takes precedence. They call the weld pattern "hada" and while they do value it and manipulate it intentionally, mostly it's subtle. It's also very fine due to the amount of folding, often 10,000 layers and up.

One way to get a clean "hamon look" with damascus is to make a san-mai billet. That is, bright mono steel core with pattern-weld sides welded on. Obviously this approaches hamon only visually, it's not a function of HT.

 

[A C Richards]

Don Hason III has done it with his W-2 and wrought iron mix. I looked on his website but he does not have any up ATT.

 

[gixxer]

When steel is hardened it is martinsitic and the steel is in a body centered crystal. Normalized or annealed steel has a face centered crystaline structure. The first is more or less a 3D crystal the Second a 2D crystaline structure. When you etch the hard steel it will refract the pattern over about 160 degrees of view. Annealed steel refracts the pattern about 40 degrees of view. This is why etched damascus "looks" better than normalized or annealed or non hardened steel....take care...Ed

Thank you, Ed. :thumbup:

I knew there was a scientific reason for my preference!

I had the same thought going on about the look, thanks for the explanation. I honestly thought that that reason right there would be why nobody would do it but some have.