First time clay quench

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byersj79

Joined
Nov 17, 2007
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156
This is my first attempt at a hamon. I'm using 1080 and satanite for the clay. The blade is in the oven tempering right now but I have a quick question. When I coated the blade I coated the whole blade and used a q-tip to remove the clay from the edge in a wavy pattern. After the quench and a quick cleaning with 220 grit I noticed where I removed the clay it sort of etched lines all in the edge. Did this happen because I didn't wipe clean the residue from the clay on the edge? Do I need to anneal and start over or will the lines polish out with sand paper? Thanks guys, this might be a dumb question but like I said this is my first attempt.
 
I would not concern yourself too much with it. You will probably find that when all is said and done, the hamon is nowhere near the lines you are talking about. I think I know what you are referring to and I get them on my knives often, but they disappear when I run through the grits while bringing the edge down to size. I guess it depends on how much clay you removed from the edge. I try to have at least 1/3rd of the blade hardened. I dont personally like it when the hamon barely skirts the cutting edge. If you are really worried about it, grind it down to final thickness, put an edge on it, wrap the handle in some duct tape, throw on a glove and go a-cuttin. If it doesnt work right, chalk it up to a learning experience and go forge out another.
 
Byers,
I am in Lexington NC. I just did a demo on clay quenching at our last Guild meeting. I would be glad to give you a one on one demo just drop me an E-mail and we'll set up a sat. to get-er-done. If something like this is what your after
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Man that would be great. I see Lexington is about four to five hours away from where I am so I don't really know when I would be able to. My work schedule requires me to be on call every other week and the weeks I’m off work kind of piles up on me. If the offer is open I would like to save your email address and contact you in a few weeks to months maybe. This is such a great opportunity for me, thank you very much Mr. Sharpe. By the way that is exactly what I'm looking for. I will post a pic later of what turned out on my blade. I don't know if the clay was too thick, not thick enough or my polish after wasn't done properly but it didn't turn out like your blade. I’m almost ashamed of showing it. I finished to 1000 grit sand paper dipped in 1 part ferric chloride 4 parts water for about a minute and tried to use WD-40 and steel wool which works when I edge quench 5160 to get a nice line but did not get a very clear, distinct line like I expected on this 1080 blade. I've sanded that finish away with 1000 grit and tried to polish with metal polish diluted with WD-40 and without and it seems like it polishes it out. Also I’ve tried multiple dips after polishing. You can see the line if held right to the light but otherwise not. Anyway I'll post a pic later on tonight and thanks again for the invite.
 
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Here is a basic thought. You need a very fast quench. Best results are going to be had with a salt brine, or parks #50 quench oil. I make brine by mixing 1lbs of table salt to gallon of water Mixes good at about 100 deg.F. You'll want to heat the brine to around 100 to120 deg F for the quench. Be prepared you may crack a few blades. Check-out my web-site most of my blades have a hamon.
By the way you are always welcome. Just give me a yell. I spend alot of time gone camping.
 
sharpeknives said:
Byers,
I am in Lexington NC. I just did a demo on clay quenching at our last Guild meeting. I would be glad to give you a one on one demo just drop me an E-mail and we'll set up a sat. to get-er-done. If something like this is what your after
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Beautiful knife. You'll have to show me how you make those sometime! Hope you do another demo at the next Guild meeting.
 
Here's the blade I tried on. I started over and polished to 1000 grit paper then used gun oil and metal polish. It turned out better but nothing like what I've seen here in the past. I oil quenched this blade and have tried to quench in brine in the past and cracked a blade now I'm kind of shy about it. I'm still new and spend hours forging and getting a blade to the quench. It's heart breaking to lose a blade at that point. I think I'm going to mix up some more and try on some 1/8" flat stock I still have. Thanks guys for the help I will keep practicing.
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Also I have some questions about the NC Knifemakers Guild and was wandering if I could bother one of you guys with an email. Thanks again.

Jason
 
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