Hamon experts...need some advice

[Blackdirt cowboy]

I tried my hand at making a knife with a hamon today, but it didn’t work out to well. I used 1084 steel from Jantz. I know that’s not the best steel for producing a hamon, but it’s what I had, and I’ve seen a hamon on 1084, so I gave it a shot.

I clayed the spine with a hefty layer of satanite and let it dry. I preheated the oven to 1500° then put the knife in and brought it back up to temperature. One it’s reached temp, I let it soak for about 10 minutes. Then I quenched in parks 50. They clay survived the quench.

After tempering twice at 400°, I ground the knife up to an a30 grit belt, then hit it with a scotchbrite belt to blend it all in. Next, I etched the blade in a 3:1 solution of ferric chloride. 20 minutes in the etch, rinsed of, hit it with steel wool, then repeated the process again. To my disappointment, there is no evidence of a hamon. I like the etched finish I got, so it’s not a total loss at all, but it’s not what I was going for.

So my question is, what went wrong? Did I do something wrong, or did it fail just because it was 1084 steel? Here’s a pic to show the results.

 

[scott kozub]

Do you know for sure the edge got hard? You mentioned a hefty layer of clay. You only need a thin layer. If the layer is too thick it can retain which slows the quench and the edge doest get hard. Was the clay well dried before entering the oven?

You should see the hamon even after a coarse grit belt but it takes a lot of work to get one with a lot of action. 3 to 1 fcl is pretty strong as well. A lot of guys use vinegar or lemon juice but that shouldn't be your issue.

Ive only done a few hamons so I'm sure some with more experience will chim in.

 

[Kentucky]

Hefty clay is too much. The keys to a good Hamon are
Less heat:go to the lower end of the steels austinizing temp
Less Clay: very thin clay, like less than 3/32” thick(or thinner)..
More Polish: more polishing and less etching. A real Hamon requires a lot of polishing. Just a little etching at the end with the oxides scrubbed off..
In your case with 1084 I’d try a very thin amount of clay and a 1475° austinizing temp.

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

I'm closing this tread as it is a duplicate.