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Is a hamon possible on a stainless steel blade or just on high carbon
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hamon on a knife blade
- Thread starter marius rsa
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Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith
ilmarinen - MODERATOR
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Harmons are hard to get on any knife 
I'll edit that for you.
A HAMON ( pronounced Hah-moan) is only possible on shallow hardening carbon steel. The lack of manganese and other alloy elements make the hamon possible. These alloy levels are minute, with the Mn being less than .30%, preferably almost nil. The desired total of all non-carbon ingredients is well below 1%.
All stainless steel has at least 12% chromium, plus other alloy ingredients, and thus will not work.
I'll edit that for you.A HAMON ( pronounced Hah-moan) is only possible on shallow hardening carbon steel. The lack of manganese and other alloy elements make the hamon possible. These alloy levels are minute, with the Mn being less than .30%, preferably almost nil. The desired total of all non-carbon ingredients is well below 1%.
All stainless steel has at least 12% chromium, plus other alloy ingredients, and thus will not work.