Hamon's, quick and easy, WIP

samuraistuart said:
26C3 is not a great steel for hamon, it's just a good steel for hamon. 26C3 and 1095 both have 0.4% Mn, but the addition of 0.3% Cr in the 26C3 really kills the "wow that's beautiful" hamon. I am not an expert at hamon, but when I tried it on 26C3 using a thin layer of satanite, all I would get is what I would call a differential hardening line with "some" activity. Just about like Tom's photos show. One of the best steels for hamon is W2 and even W1. Hitachi White is also great, as is 1095 (the lower the Mn the better, as there seems to be a wide margin of allowed element % with 1095). With practice, you can achieve really amazing hamons with W2 and 1095 using Parks 50.
Click to expand...

I didn't really pick 26C3 for it's hamon activity, there is W2 and Shirogami avail to me here if I want some. I mainly chose 26C3 based on it's performance, HRC levels and honestly it's well priced right now, it just makes sense for kitchen knives especially japanese style single bevel geometry.
I'm going to continue to use this steel for through hardened and keep trying hamons with it.
This stuff for some reason really doesn't like water quenches, I usually water quench simple carbon steels without much issue, i've had at least 4 blades crack on me during water quenches though. Didn't really see this as a steel that requires a fast oil, I was even thinking to kick it up a notch with some brine solution, but no way i'm trying brine this stuff is nervous around hot water.
 
26C3 is much better done in a fast oil like Parks #50.

It can be done with an interrupted water quench by quenching in water and immediately pulling out and then putting in oil ( any speed of quench oil should work)

Try lowering the austenitization temp, too. It increases the hamon activity and lessens the quench shock. Try a few blades at 1445°F.
 
Josh, I hope you got some fish. Thanks for the picture.
Samuraisturat and Stacy, I think you missed the whole point of the WIP. It was how to get a quick easy hamon without a lot of polishing and etching.
I would like to see you each post a picture of your hamon's and tell how long it took to get them.
 
Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith said:
26C3 is much better done in a fast oil like Parks #50.

It can be done with an interrupted water quench by quenching in water and immediately pulling out and then putting in oil ( any speed of quench oil should work)

Try lowering the austenitization temp, too. It increases the hamon activity and lessens the quench shock. Try a few blades at 1445°F.
Click to expand...

I will try that on my next quench, I think my last Santoku came out good last night, it seems soft ont he spine and hard on the edge, this one was forged though so there's uneven hammer marks on the flat near the spine, but it looks darker at the spine from what I can see.
I'll give the interupted quench a try I have an oil tank next to the water tray so that's easy set up already. If that doesn't work I'll use some 50.
 
We were merely responding to his comment/question on not getting a good hamon on 26C3 and the problem with cracking blades, not on his original WIP post on his method. On that, I only made a comment on the thickness as a suggestion.
 
Nice thread, thanks Tom.

It's interesting that the consensus is now that 26C3 has good but not great hamon potential. I made a couple tantos in March of 2020 and at that time it seemed very promising and a lot of people were testing it. I did use it and it turned out ok, but could have been better. Some guy named Don Hanson suggested 1095, but I was too smart for that advice...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top