etching a hamon in aldos 1084

[Charlie Mike]

I heard that the vanadium content was a little higher on Aldo 1084 and that may preclude a temper line. My blade was professionally hardened and draw tempered by Jeff at TruGrit. What is the best way for a backyard knife tweaker like myself to get one to appear?

 

[Danbo]

If you take the blade to 400 or so, you should be able to see the hamon, if there's one. Etching in vinegar or diluted Ferric Chloride will bring it out, too.

 

[Charlie Mike]

Cool. This is a pic before HT.

 

[Robert Dark]

I suspect the problem is "Manganese" and not Vanadium. You can get a temper line to show in 1084, but it won't jump out at you like 1095 or W2.

 

[oic0]

I tried it on one I did in aldos 1084. You can see the line but like they said, it just doesn't jump out at you. More acid maybe would have brought it out more but it wasn't in a good spot to be attractive so I didnt pursue it further.

 

[David Loukides]

Hi Charlie Mike,
This is the best I could get with diluted Ferric Chloride.
It took trial and error. More on the error side.

 

[Charlie Mike]

I was drooling about that thing!

I have some hydrochloric acid if that helps.

 

[Atlas Knife Company]

David: Could you tell us how you did it, and hopefully spare us some of the error side? I've got a blade, and I know there's a line in it, but I am scared to death of touching it with acid.

 

[Don Hanson III]

I suspect the problem is "Manganese" and not Vanadium. You can get a temper line to show in 1084, but it won't jump out at you like 1095 or W2.

Yes, for very active hamon, you want very low manganese. 1084 has too much Mn... Vanadium can help produce a fine grain and that helps too, in a number of ways, but mostly lowers hardenability.

 

[David Loukides]

Hi zaph1,
1084 was fun to try but if you want results W2 is better.
It has been at least 2 years since I made that blade and haven't made any others like it. So based on my memory which can be wrong some times this is what I did.
1084 steel with 1/8" thick furnace cement.
Heat to 1500f. or till the exposed part of the blade is a even colour.
Straight into Parks 50 oil heated to 100f to 120f
Double temper at 450deg
Sand to 800 grit.
2min Etch in Ferric Chloride.
000 steel wool.
Repeat until satisfied.
Hopes this helps.
Dave

 

[matt venier]

I use hot vinegar to bring out hamons. sometimes using a strong acid etches everything, multiple etches with a weaker acid will bring out more action in a hamon.

Matt

 

[Atlas Knife Company]

Oh, like this! Thanks for the inspiration. I thought I was going to have to settle for a knife with a soft spine that only I knew about. It didn't turn out nearly as artistic as the satanite I applied 2 years ago, nor is it anywhere near as good as what I've seen on other steels, but it is certainly visible. I had a pattern similar to what David has on his, and I'm guessing all the manganese blurred it to a relatively straight line like I ended up with. I would expect that at .803% manganese, Aldo's 1084 would get a similar result.

 

[spareparts]

Here's a kitchen knife I'm working on. I'll be honest, I have no idea how the lines showed up the way they did, maybe I didn't clay coat it properly, but looks pretty cool so far. Aldo's 1084 etched with citric acid.

 

[Dan Pierson]

I like that hamon a lot. Probably very good function too since there looks to be plenty of
hardened steel where you need it.