Hamon Polishing... How do you know you don't have anymore activity or whispy stuff

Hmm, I though my Japanese reference links were there. I'll put it in the stickies - Japanese Blade Info.

I use these primarily ( there are probably 100 more words, but these will cover most all major areas):
ha - the hardened edge of the blade
ji - the surface between the hamon and the shinogi
habuchi - the line between the hamon and the ji ( AKA nioi-guchi)
hamon - the line indicating the border of the hardened edge. This is a group of crystals ( nie and nioi) that form in the hardening process.
ashi - lines of nioi extending from the hamon toward the edge
nie - small visible martensite crystals. Often seen as bright specks and little "islands" just above the hamon.
nioi - minute/microscopic martensite crystals visible in a groug as a milky/wispy cloud.
shinogi - the ridge line of the blade
shinogi ji - the surface between the shinogi and the mune
mune - the spine of the blade

Blade parts ( very simplified):
Top/spine - mune
edge - ha
tip - kissaki
tang - nakago
handle - tsuka
guard - tsuba
Blade collar that guard rests on - habaki
shoulders habaki and tsuba rests on - machi
where the tip and edge meet - yokote
where the bevels meet - shinogi
curvature of blade - sori
fuller on blade - bohi
blade length - nagasa
sheath - saya



Here are some sites that will give a lot of info. The first link will give you dozens of great sources for reference and research. It can take a year to absorb that site alone.
http://home.earthlink.net/~steinrl/nihonto.htm (this site has links to most any question about japanese swords and such)

http://home.earthlink.net/~steinrl/terms/terms.htm
http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=japanese+sword+glossary&qpvt=japanese+sword+glossary&FORM=IGRE
http://shibuiswords.com/glossary.htm
http://www.samuraisword.com/glossary/index.htm
http://home.earthlink.net/~steinrl/glossry.htm
http://home.earthlink.net/~steinrl/glossary.htm
http://www.japaneseswordsltd.com/glossary.html

This is great for figuring out Japanese kitchen knife terms and names;
http://zknives.com/knives/kitchen/misc/usetype/all/index.shtml
 
Last edited:
Well I ordered some of the 600grit and 1500grit abrasives to give a try(already have 400). Hopefully that will suffice. ill try and post how it works out for me. Got this hamon to try and polish out. Did this guy with my last piece of W2 (aldos old stock) a little bit of some clay stuff and quench in parks 50. Was gonna be kind of a forge finish but ended up taking more off so its now just kind of rough lol. I forged this one to shape pretty exactly as far as forging goes. the edge was darn near thickness of a penny tops which is the closest Ive forged before.

Great thread by the way and thanks to all the contributors.

By the way this is only a rough 220 grit sanding.

 
Corey- That has a LOT of potential!

IMHO, if you put a broad clip on the blade, it will pull it all together.

Very cool. :cool:
 
Thanks guys, Ill see about the clip. Not my area of expertise yet but gotta start doing them sometime.
 
Thanks Weatherman.

Sorry dont mean to derail the thread. So I got one side up to about a 1000grit. So trying a few things suggested here. Once up to grit I cleaned that side with goofoff then used one of the makeup remover pads and lemon juice. Just rubbed it up some repeatedly for maybe 20 seconds. Cleaned with windex. Then I used a couple of polishers I have, mothers which is a little abrasive and another which is much smoother. Did this primarily above the hamon line. Then I repeated once more. I think it turned out pretty good so far. Nothing like a traditional polish but then again I dont have that time right now or the know how or the tools.

Im hoping to get the 600 and 1200 or 1500 grit abrasive tomorrow and wanna try playing with that on this one. See if I can get maybe a little bit of difference from above and below to contrast either side some. Thanks Nick and D. Lisch for the suggestions on this.

Now I gotta figure out how better to photograph these guys.



 
Corey - You aren't derailing the thread. Good pics and make sure you tell us what you are doing and keep us updated. It helps everyone.
 
Well got the 1500 grit in today. So used that above the hamon line and used some I think its mothers below. Did a couple of lemon rubs inbetween doing the polishing. I did try a quick FC rub but it was just too strong. Wont be doing that again. It basically hid a bunch of detail so had to polish that all out and go back to lemon juice.

So after doing this I realized that my 1000grit initial sanding was probably too low a grit. Between the 1500grit abrasive and lemon juice it seemed to accentuate my sanding job in a bad way. The hamon really pops now though. I could see it clearly no matter what light. Before if it was in the wrong light or straight on it was visible but hard to see sometimes. Now you can pick out the details pretty much no matter what. Will be doing this next time thats for sure. More time I think but much better results. Ofcourse you gotta make sure you have a good HT to begin with.



 
Well done!!!! I like that way more than mine.

Have you tried vinegar? I might have to try lemon juice to see how different it works.

do you by chance have a pic of the clay layout?
 
Sorry wasnt expecting this thread and to tell ya the truth I am usually slapping on the clay and throwing it in the forge.

Strig when I apply it I usually do a thin layer down each side of equal thickness down the same distance so they match pretty close. Then I do the little X's or random splots and try to get those somewhat equal. Never get it exact but I try and get it close. To be honest the big thing is getting the first major portion the same. The little X's or patterns or whatever the way I do it dont determine where the hamon line is, they just aid in getting the little ashi guys which in my experience are about as random as they come.

Now there are makers that layout very specific lines in the clay to get the little fingers to match up on both sides and have a more controlled randomness if you get my drift. Then you have guys like Nick who are masters at the HT and dont even use clay, there hamons are more random but also controlled by blade profile (and temp and all that good stuff) more then anything. I mean if you use salt pots and have exact temperature you can ride that line and get a wonderful looking auto hamon with more whispy patterns.

I personally go with a defined area or line per say that shows as much activity as I can get if that makes sense. Just what I can do with what I got and what I like.
 
Like to add its as much the steel as anything, this is Aldo's old W2 which was pretty darn bad a. It makes doing this easy in a way. His 1075 is also pretty darn good as well. Ive yet to try his 1080 but if he says it pulls a nice hamon Im sure it does. Oh and his 1095 makes a good one also. Much better then stuff Ive gotten from other places.
 
quint said:
Like to add its as much the steel as anything, this is Aldo's old W2 which was pretty darn bad a. It makes doing this easy in a way. His 1075 is also pretty darn good as well. Ive yet to try his 1080 but if he says it pulls a nice hamon Im sure it does. Oh and his 1095 makes a good one also. Much better then stuff Ive gotten from other places.
Click to expand...

Yeah, my original pics are using Aldo's 1095.
 
Why are some of you using ammonia compounds to neutralize instead of baking soda ? I remember Kevin Cashen saying boil in baking powder solution neutralizes and sets the etch.
 
He said that about etching damascus... and I do it, works great. With hamon etching you don't want the oxides to remain on the blade like you would with pattern weld.

Windex is just easy, I suppose, and less of an irritant than TSP. I use baking soda if I run out of Windex though.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top