Hamon Question

[DustinY]

I agree you have auto hamon.
I have worked some with both W2 and 26C3 and have to say I agree with John Doyle that 26C3 isn't quite as good as W2 but I find it good.
I like the ease of heat treating 26C3. It gets screaming hard with a 10 min soak at 1465-1475 and dunk in Parks #50. The W2 I have needs a lot of tender loving care to heat treat but does make awesome hamon.
The first knife is hamon on W2 the second is 26C3.

I see what you're saying about those W2 hamon's

The hamon that is present on the knife I have is that really cloudy whispy stuff, i'll work hard to bring results here quick!

 

[DustinY]

I am going to try a few thermal cycles to decrease hardenability to see if hamon potential increases.

Willie - just a clarifying questions, for your vinegar soak, do you heat the vinegar?

 

[HSC ///]

I agree you have auto hamon.
I have worked some with both W2 and 26C3 and have to say I agree with John Doyle that 26C3 isn't quite as good as W2 but I find it good.
I like the ease of heat treating 26C3. It gets screaming hard with a 10 min soak at 1465-1475 and dunk in Parks #50. The W2 I have needs a lot of tender loving care to heat treat but does make awesome hamon.
The first knife is hamon on W2 the second is 26C3.

Outside of the Hamon quality or potential (Which I personally have little or no interest in) how is the steel not as good W2 or is the hamon potential what you were referring to?

where does John Doyle speak about his experience with 26c3?

 

[Willie71]

Willie - just a clarifying questions, for your vinegar soak, do you heat the vinegar?

no, not the vinegar, but the lemon juice yes.

 

[Richard338]

Outside of the Hamon quality or potential (Which I personally have little or no interest in) how is the steel not as good W2 or is the hamon potential what you were referring to?

where does John Doyle speak about his experience with 26c3?

https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/simple-3-piece-hunter.1725100/

 

[HSC ///]

https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/simple-3-piece-hunter.1725100/

Thanks, I didn’t know that it was marketed as a hamon steel... I thought it was a performance steel with a blend between a hitachi white and blue...which I personally think is much more important than the visual effect of A hamon

anyway I don’t mean to digress, this is A hamon thread

 

[Richard338]

There has been quite a bit of discussion of its hamon potential. It is also mentioned in the product description on the AKS website.

I bought some for that reason.

 

[Robert Erickson]

Outside of the Hamon quality or potential (Which I personally have little or no interest in) how is the steel not as good W2 or is the hamon potential what you were referring to?

where does John Doyle speak about his experience with 26c3?

I feel that performance wise they are similar. I was just referring to the hamon potential.

 

[John mc c]

26c3 is like Hitachi white not blue Harbeer
No tungsten which is what makes blue wear resistant

 

[DustinY]

A C T I V I T Y

 

[Josh Rider]

Video doesn’t work for me, it says private

 

[DustinY]

Everything always looks better on my phone - I wonder if I can upload it with better quality.

 

[Josh Rider]

It says private again. If you upload a video, you have the option to make it public, private, or people with the link have access.
Right now it’s saying the video is private.

 

[DustinY]

It says private again. If you upload a video, you have the option to make it public, private, or people with the link have access.
Right now it’s saying the video is private.
View attachment 1332525

Sigh - I’m on mobile (went to my YouTube, made it public, reposted it here) and realized it keeps erroring me out when trying to make it public. I’ll fix it when i get home

 

[DustinY]

This is the video, unprivated. Sorry guys! I'll work on adding higher quality videos as well

 

[Willie71]

A C T I V I T Y

just 20h of sanding, etching, and polishing to go!

 

[DustinY]

just 20h of sanding, etching, and polishing to go!

Is there any issue with me doing a test etch in the vinegar at 220? Just to see what i'm working with?

 

[Willie71]

Is there any issue with me doing a test etch in the vinegar at 220? Just to see what i'm working with?

nope. I do it all the time. Expect mostly Grey with a white zigzag line where the main transition is. At 800 you see a lot more activity.

for users, 800-1200 works well. For showpieces, go to 2500 or 3000.

 

[DustinY]

Any advice on making it better -

Steps:
Vinegar etch x2 (5 minutes, polished with FFF pumice).
Lemon Juice x6 (multiple polishes - FFF pumice, takes less oxides off. Also used blue magic metal polish, really polishes out the blade)

Would be willing to try others steps.

 

[Willie71]

Any advice on making it better -

Steps:
Vinegar etch x2 (5 minutes, polished with FFF pumice).
Lemon Juice x6 (multiple polishes - FFF pumice, takes less oxides off. Also used blue magic metal polish, really polishes out the blade)

Would be willing to try others steps.

that looks good. To take a pic, put a black piece of paper (Or other black flat object) beside the blade to reflect off of. If you want to go down the rabbit hole, I would do 5 more min in white vinegar, then a series of lemon juice etches. It still looks quite polished, and a slightly deeper etch will bring out a bit more contrast. It looks quite good now, but this rabbit hole is deep. This is fine as it is, but you MIGHT get a bit more out of it.