Help! 15N20 hamon

[S.Alexander]

I have a couple of blades that I am working on, made from Aldo's 15n20. It's 1/16" thick. I am wondering if anyone has tried, or has gotten a hamon out of this steel. According to Aldo the Mn content is .35, so it seems that a hamon is a possibility.

I want to try it out, so this is my plan.

-3 x normalize, 1600, 1500, 1400
-thin wash over the entire blade with satanite
-thicker clay pattern along the spine
-Austentize at 1475 and hold for 10mins.
-quench in 130 degree canola.

Any recommendations or experience with 15n20 would be appreciated.

 

[Willie71]

There is no need to thermal cycle this steel. I've tried it with thermal cycles, and without, and no difference.

I have made a few nice hamons with it. They work a lot better with the 1/4" stock. Aldo said his 1/4" and the 0.090, and 0.070 are different sources. I haven't been able to get a great hamon out of them. The thinner stock is already hardened at Rc42, so 1200f for a couple hours makes it easier to work. I used 1465f on the 1/4" stock that got the hamon.

The bottom knife is 15n20:

[/url]100_2273 by Wjkrywko, on Flickr[/IMG]

 

[S.Alexander]

That's good to know Warren. Those are some nice looking hamons there. I will give it a try with this thin stock.

 

[S.Alexander]

Well I managed to get a hamon out of it. However, it doesn't look right to me. When I etched and polished, a pattern emerged under the hamon as well. I am thinking that it had to do with thin wash of clay that I put over the entire blade. It looks as if there are differentially hardened spots all over the blade. It doesn't look like decarb to me, but I could be wrong.

Here was my heat treat:

-thin wash of satanite over the entire blade
-thicker clay pattern along the spine
Ramp to 1200 and equalize for 10 mins
-Austentize at 1465 and hold for 5 mins.
-quench in 130 degree canola.
-Temper twice at 375

Any opinions? Is the heat treat ruined? Should I redo the heat treat?

ETA - I also ran it at 1200 degrees for two hours with a light wash of satanite on it, before heat treat in order to soften the steel. I wonder if this could have caused the patterns. The pattern looks like the satanite did when I brushed it on with my finger.

 

[P. McKinley]

The pattern looks like the satanite did when I brushed it on with my finger

Shane - It looks like you do still have a layer of decarb and the blade needs to be finish-ground, or a lot more hand sanding. After its ground, I think you'll see the shadow created by the clay, not just the pattern of the clay itself.

-Peter

 

[S.Alexander]

After previously hand sanding, none of this was visible. It only became visible once I etched and polished. I will break out the sandpaper again and bear down on it.

Thanks Peter

 

[Willie71]

I stopped doing the thin wash of satanite over the whole blade, as I got artifacts from it. The clay is gritty, and hard to get even. I think Pat is right though.