Hamon possible in 0-1?

S

Scott Fulford

Joined
Feb 16, 2002
Messages
91
I`ve had success getting good hamons in the 10 series steels and w1 and w2, I`m making a nice fighter and the man I`m making it for asked if a hamon can be put in 0-1, I didnt think it could but I thought I would ask the guru`s first.
Can it be done? If so standard clay, heat, quench, etch hand sand till hamon visible method?
Thanks in advance,
Scott
 
O-1 is a deep hardening steel, and would not be a good candidate for a hamon. The pearlite nose is about 8-9 seconds,way too long for differential structures to form ( about twice as slow as 5160).

You could try to edge quench the blade, and get a quench line, which is often incorrectly called a hamon. I don't recommend that, but you could experiment with some scrap.

I did some O-1 blades, about 8 years ago, and tried for a hamon. I clay coated the blades, fired them in the oven for 20 minutes ( O-1 has a long soak), and quenched in Parks #50. As I recall, there was sort of a line, but it was more caused by the decarb than being different structures. It was straight and right at the clay. I took one blade down to just barely smooth at the line, and fully sanded out the other. The one I left a slight ridge on looked OK, but had no activity...just a line. The other showed nothing once fully sanded out ( indicating that the line was a surface artifact of the decarb).

Stacy
 
Thanks Stacy, thats what I thought but I did not want to arbitrarily dismiss the posibility of making the blade have a visible hamon, the man I`m making the blade for is trading me a nice rifle that would fit well in my collection so I wanted to make sure he`s getting the blade he wants, the hamon was an afterthought on his part but since I`ve yet to heat treat the blade I wouldnt mind going through the process if it was possible, I`ll let him know.
Scott
 
About the only way you are gonna get any kind of line in O-1 is doing a "torch" heat-treat. Because O-1 has a fairly long "soak" time at "temp", I don't usually recommend this method........... however, with time and practice, it is obatinable. You are probably not going to get the most out of O-1 that it has to offer, but it still makes a heck of a knife.

Brian Goode has been doing these for years. Here is an example of one of mine done this way.

Robert

sing10-7.jpg
 
Dang what a blade Robert!!! Nice one :)

Torch is very reliable way to get a hammon with 0-1. Won't be wavey or japanese type but more straight and one fluid curve.
 
blgoode said:
Dang what a blade Robert!!! Nice one :)

Torch is very reliable way to get a hammon with 0-1. Won't be wavey or japanese type but more straight and one fluid curve.
Click to expand...

Yup, you just have to learn to be somewhat of an artist and "paint with a torch":D That fluid line doesn't "just appear", you have to play the flame.

R.D.
 
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