Etched 4 times and still no hamon....

D

DHackney

Joined
Jul 12, 2004
Messages
178
Hi flolks,

Okay. I diluted my Ferric Chloride (3 parts distilled water : 1 part FC), cleaned blade with acetone, dried it, held in FC for 30secs, neutralized with windex, hand sand /1000 grit
paper. I can clearly see the temper line when dipped in the FC but even after 4 cycles I still cannot see the temper line in the sanded blade.

Am I doing something incorrectly or do I just keep going until I see it?

Many thanks,
Dana Hackney
Monument, CO
 
Hi Dana
What steel are you using? It seems to me that some steels etch better then others. I can never seem to get a good etch on O1 even though I can see the temper line when I sand.
YMHS---------Bob
 
I etch all my 0-1. How long are you etching? I etch for 4 to 6 min - 3 times.
 
I also used the torch for heat treating and then quenched in oil (edge).

I've been letting the blade soak in the ferric chloride for about 30-40 seconds only. I've done
4 cycles and am using 1000-1500 grit sanding paper. Should I be using a coaser grit, as well as letting it soak in the FC for 3-4 minutes?

Thanks guys,
Dana
 
Dana,
if you edge quenched you may not have a hammond in 0-1. It has some air hardening qualities so I think thats why. I may be wrong though.....

I let etch for 5 min, sand with 1500 grit, etch again(repeat as needed) and steel whool. Let the knife etch longer.
 
Getting hamon on O-1 is iffy. There have been some recent threads on this do a search.
 
I'll try a longer etch time and repeat the process a few more times before I hang it up.
I'll also do a search for the recent threads, Mete.

Many thanks,
Dana
 
Holy deja vu, Batman! Man, we hashed this topic out bigtime a couple months ago, with me being on the receiving end of some good (and harsh, but still good) advice.
I use my little pain can forge to het my blades, and I was trying to do an edge quench as well as use clay to at least control my temper line, and neither worked out well at all.

One of the issues that came up is that O1 (and forgive me if I've misunderstood all of my metallurgy reading homework, guys!) has a very forgiving "nose" on a TTT diagram, meaning that it will harden to some degree if it cools to the martensite transformation temperature within 10 seconds. In other words, if it cools to a certain temp within 10 seconds, it'll pretty much harden, in my kind of terms! So, I was finding that the part not going into the oil was still pretty much hardening fully even in the air, so no temper line. I gave up on caring about a temper line in O1, anyway, and when I use O1 now I just through harden it and I'm happy. I'll save my temper line headaches for 1095 from now on! :D
 
Again, I hash things from the other side of the hammond battlefield using
0-1. ;) :D
I am cleaning up 4 blades and I can see the temper line using 60 grit. But I use a torch to HT my blades so it can be done. Use what you have to learn with and aim for a desired look but I stress have fun and use what tools you have available to you. If I had a forge I would be heat treating my 0-1 and never even try for a temper line...............but I dont have a forge so I use a torch and the result is a nice hammon, but more difficult to use.

Hope this helps some..........
Trio.jpg
 
Okay, I asked it before, and I'm asking again...

What in the world is a "hammond" ????

-Nick-
 
NickWheeler said:
Okay, I asked it before, and I'm asking again...

What in the world is a "hammond" ????

-Nick-
Click to expand...
A city of northwest Indiana on the Illinois border west of Gary. It is highly industrialized. Population: 84,236.
 
Same thing as dang Salmon, but with and H ........and a D....... :) and there's an L in there for some reason.
 
If you can see the hardening line when it comes out of the etch then it probably *is* differentially hardened and will show a hamon. It may not be distinct or really prominent but if the edge is darker than the back after the etch it means the acid is attacking the edge harder and faster than the back....and that means at least some difference in hardness.

Instead of sanding after the etch try using Flitz or Simichrome polish to remove the black schmutz. In my experience 1000 grit paper will pretty much wipe the etch clean off the blade. Etch it, clean the oxide off with a mild abrasive polish, and then repeat the etch. Etch and clean until you can clearly see the delineation between hard and soft and then just warm the blade and use a cotton swab dipped in ferric and apply it only to the edge.

That will work much better than sanding after the etch, IMO.

Brian
 
everybody knows that "hamon" is just half of a well known diner menu noun...


"hamon" cheese on toasted wheat!!


(Mr. Toasty'd like that :) )

ps. that'd be ONE SCB (snappy come back...) for you sir.
 
Brian, I think the reason you do get the type of temper line you do is because of the torching. You probably aren't getting the parts above your temper line to critical, therefore I would assume they wouldn't fully harden if cooling within that 10 second-ish period. I will have to try a small sample blade using only my propane torch and see what happens. You and Allan Blade are two guys I know who get consistent temper lines on O1 and you both use torches. I have done non-clay coated HT of O1 exactly like I do 1084 and 1095 and I will not get a temper line on O1 but will on 1084 and 1095, so I think if you want to get that temper line you might almost have to use a torch instead of a forge. Or use a torch to do a drawn temper along the spine.
 
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