Hamon etch and polish

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Jul 31, 2015
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I hand sanded this to 2000. It was clayed 1084, quenched in canola. I am not sure what I am supposed to do. I have etched in dilute FC and polished with mothers 3 times. The spine portion is a dull grey. The edge area is shinier, but still greyer then pre etch. How do I , or can i, get the whole blade back to a polished finish without wiping out the hamon?

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First you need to use a steel which is more suitable for getting vivid hamons. Try 1050, 1075, 1095, W1, W2. I think 1084 has too much manganese.
 
Thank you, yes, It was an experiment. I have some 1095 now and will be utilizing that next time. I don't expect to get a really vivid hamon, but I don't think the dull grey on the clayed area is what most have when they have etched and polished. I don't think the steel type will have an effect on the finish of that area, but I don't know where to go from here. If there is a way to get a more polished finish, especially in the spine side of the hamon, I would love any direction provided.
 
As said, 1084 isn't going to make a dramatic hamon.

You say 2000 grit, but the surface is covered with much coarser scratches. Go back to 220 or 400 grit and sand it to completely smooth - no scratches.

Go up to 600/800, and then 1000/2000 and use the Mother's again. If there isn't a suitable hamon showing, etch with 15:1 FC and polish with the Mothers just as much as is needed to get the contrast. Sometimes you have to polish only above or below the hamon, and sometimes you use different polishes on the two areas.

A trick on some faint hamons:
Hand sand and polish up to 2000 grit. The blade below the hamon should be shiny.
Paint the ha (hardened part below the hamon) with enamel paint or Dykem, and let dry. Paint it following the very bottom edge of the hamon. You may have to give it a quick etch to see the hamon. Just etch as little as is needed to find it.
Etch the ji (upper part above the hamon) in diluted FC until it is the way you want.
Clean up with Mother's or Flitz.
Remove the resist with solvent and clean up the blade.
This makes a bright and shiny ha and a darker and more matte ji.
Place tape on the ji while sharpening to avoid making marks on the darker surface. I often tape the bevels to within 1/4" of the edge when sharpening.

Another tip is to raise the clay where the steel is thicker. The reason the line on this blade drops down so low at the ricasso is there is much more steel there. That bleeds a lot more heat down toward the edge in cooling. If the clay was higher above that area, it would have made the line higher. On your blade, to get a guess of how the clay should have been shaped, draw and inverse the existing hamon as it goes back toward the tang - that is where the clay should have been for a straight line.
 
Those aren't sanding scratches. It was close to a mirror finish with NO scratches prior to polishing post etch. They are in the dull grey surface. They appeared when I wiped the polish off.

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I believe (looking at phone pics, so I may well be wrong) that you're looking at the grain of the 1084.
This is (fairly deeply) etched forged differential hardened 1084, and the unhardened body of the blade has an almost wootz-like grain-the hardened section has almost none
 
If you etch and then (gently) buff with pink stainless compound, or polish on an 800 grit cork belt, that will bring it up as well. The 800 grit cork leaves a cut finish and "windows" the steel better IMO
 
I don't know that it will polish, since it is pearlite.

To me, it is the frosty ji and hard shiny ha that makes yaki-ire such a nice hardening style.
 
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