First Knife WIP

Wow, that's looking really nice! :thumbup: :cool:

Alden is good people for sure! :)

BTW- Don't forget to put some dish soap in your vinegar or it will just give you a crappy, uneven etch. About 5 or 6 drops for a cup of vinegar should be about right. If there's enough soap that it suds while you're rubbing the vinegar on the blade, it won't etch as aggressively but it will etch evenly.

Good luck! :)
 
:thumbup:Hey Brent, it looks like you got it cleaned up very well! It will be interesting to see the hamon. I see in the pics where the clay was a little close to the edge. I guess is snuck down as you shaped the clay, and we didn't notice.

Nick, thanks for the comment. When you polish the blade do you treat the area under the hamon and the hamon differently then the area over the hamon? Or do you polish and etch it all the same? Your blade looks amazing!

~Alden
 
Alden- Thanks for the kind words! :) I don't know how you're supposed to do it, but I know what has worked for me.

I focus MOSTLY on the soft part of the blade with the initial oxide removal using Liquid Flitz. I DO go over the whole blade... just with much less pressure and time on the hardened area.

Then the opposite is true with the powder/oil. But still...go over the entire blade.

If, when I get everything done it looks hazy or dirty, then I will go back and try to focus on what's not right. If it STILL doesn't look real consistent, then you can take a "sanding stick" with that craft foam stuck to it, and with a slurry of the polishing powder/oil do some long, smooth (final sanding) pulls on the blade. That will even everything out (IME anyway). :)

Hope that helps!!! :)

Oh BTW- just for the record--- I etched/polished the W2 blade in that other thread 6 times. Jim Cooper's integral in W2 took me more like 11 cycles. (well about 40 if you count all the ones that ended up getting sanded out cuz I was unhappy :foot:)
 
Nick, I got through 3 rounds of etching and polishing yesterday. The hamon line is there, but very faded still. I'm etching exactly like you said, then I rinse really really good with windex. Then polish with a 2000 grit strip of paper. It almost seems like the paper is taking off whatever hamon I had. Should I keep doing this until the sand paper is worn way down? Or is there another route I should go with polishing?
 
Oh yea... :(

2000 paper is essentially an eraser on a vinegar etch. If 2000 paper is all you can get then you're probably better off etching in Ferric Chloride. It will etch much more aggressively, so that you won't just be sanding it off with the paper.

It's not going to be the same look, but you gotta work with what you've got (or can/are willing to get).

And don't get too hung up on the first one coming out just like you imagine... it's taken me over 5 years to finally start getting close to what I wanted when I started. :eek:

:)
 
I have 4000 grit. But I'm assuming that won't do much. I've heard from some post on the forums that Walmart might go at or above 2000 grit, so I might try there today. If not, I'll just stop at Radio Shack and get some ferric chloride.
 
YESTERDAY was looking good. Vinegar/soap etching as prescribed by Nick.

Post vinegar etch had seemingly great results. This is after the third round of etching. Personally, I think it's a good looking hamon line (it's the first I've seen at this step, haha)


AAAAAAAANNNDDD Post polish after third round of polishing...almost no hamon, but it is there in the right light. You can just barely see it just below the bevel....little did I know, I should have stopped here and went on to my handle.





TODAY was anything but satisfying.

I soaked the blade in ferric chloride mixed with water (3:1 water:fc) for approximately 4-5 minutes. Things seemed fairly promising, I could see a good hamon line in there.


I started polishing the blade with the 2000 grit and the frustration slowly grew. I shortly found out that I was dealing with what seemed like a whole new layer of scaling. There was [is] rust like pitting all over it. After 2 hours of sanding away on one side with 2000 grit and watching what little hamon I had, slowly disappear, I had to back off to 1200 grit to get the new unwanted texture out. 1 hour at 1200 grit, and another hour at 2000 grit. The pitting is still there and I want to throw the damn thing in the neighbor's yard. I have no idea what's going on...just posting about it pisses me off all over again.


Going to back down to 600 grit tomorrow, 1200, 2000, then 4000 to finish it up. Screw the hamon at this point, it's my first knife and I just want to get to the handle. Maybe I can get my wife to use it in the kitchen and some sort of hamon will develop over time.

Forge WIP pics on the side...

Just one very thin layer of satanite right now, to get the inswool to stick where I want it. I torched it a little to harden it, it's going to air dry till saturday, then I'll add more to get it to the required 1/4" inch, then I'll get the ITC-100 on there and harden that up. I have a 1" fire brick for the bottom shelf, it is lined up right now to be dead even with the bottom of the front door...oh and I also need to get the door insulated. I'll probably use double sided foam tape to get the inswool sticking to the door, then the satanite should cover it well enough to make a nice little egg shell to keep it all on. I wanted to make sure ALL the inswool was covered at least some, I DO NOT WANT ANY CHANCE TO EVER BREATHE THIS STUFF IN. Some got on my skin when I was measuring and cutting, and I broke out in hives...not fun.


Alden added the door shelf, the handle rod, the burner pipe and welded the door on. POW!!! Alden is the MAN!!! I only wanted help with lining up the burner pipe, but he just kept going...Possibly the nicest guy I've met. A fire brick fits on the shelf perfectly.
 
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I'm flipping out on this knife, I'm almost bald. :grumpy:

Just spent the first of the last 2.5 hours going nuts on this thing with 600 grit. Still pitting. Stepped back AGAIN to 400 grit for 45 minutes, then back up 600 grit for the next 45+ minutes..............

STILL PITTING AND MARKS FROM ETCHING!?!?! WTF!?!?! :mad:

I don't think this thing will get back to the original shine I had it at with the 2000 grit. I'm seriously considering cutting my losses on this one, finishing it at 1200 grit and moving on, but there is that "first knife pride" that is making me want to conquer it.
 
Hold your horses there before you kill yourself... Are you neutralizing the etchant after your etch and polish cycles? Ferric chloride is pretty aggressive stuff especially in your 3:1 ratio. If you dont wash the knife off REAL good with soapy water and neutralize it with a base like ammonia aka windex you're not stopping the etching which could be why you're getting this pitting and such.
 
After ferric chloride I usually rinse the knife off in water, then throw it in a concentrated TSP solution for at least a few minutes. Then soap and water and finish polishing. I usually don't go as high with the sandpaper as you are, I get a vivid enough hamon without the added labor (which makes my knives cost more than I want them to for my customers right now.) I etch at 600 grit, then lightly go over the surface with 1500 or 2000 grit. Flitz would work, too. I realize that this way does not produce an incredibly "detailed" hamon, but it's dramatic and good-looking enough for me. Here's a pic:

IMG_4446.jpg


Also I consider this to be a somewhat durable finish as opposed to such a high hand polish.

My $0.02.
 
When using the vinegar and soap to etch, I neutralized with plenty of windex. When I tried the FECL I neutralized with baking soda and water...thoroughly.

Salem, where can I pickup some flitz?
 
You can get it from Jantz or USA knifemaker's supply, I have no outlet for it over here but you may in Spokane- try calling around to some of the larger hardware and department stores around you. Stephan Fowler's hamon thread has good advice for the use of several paste-type polishes, with comparisons.
 
That's a gorgeous integral Salem!!! :thumbup: :cool:

Even though I often find myself doing very time intensive polishing, I am in 100% complete agreement about polish. The method you wrote about is still a very attractive finish and MUCH MUCH more durable than the one I recently posted about.

Just for the record....I was never trying to say the way I'm doing it these days is the best... not even remotely close to saying that. Mostly just wanted to show my collector friends what goes into it and shared it here. :)
 
Thanks Nick, your hamons are super nice, I have to put food on my table with knives right now so I usually don't feel have the time to take a finish that high and make ends meet. Maybe I could, just not my customer base right now.
 
Sat down today, started at 220 grit and worked back up to 2000.

Then I worked on the scales, got the ricasso portion shaped and cleaned up how I wanted. Sized some holes, pins etc, and got the epoxy mixed and the scales clamped on.

I'll post pics after I get the clamps off and clean it up, and get rid of the "looks like a toddler played with some glue" look.
 
Pulled the clamps off, and cleaned it up. I have the scales down to about 1/8" away from the tang all the way around. I lost my respirator, so I'm going to wait to shape the handle for when I find it or get a new one.

How do I get that epoxy off the blade/ricasso without ruining anything?

 
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