How do i get a good hamon on my 26C3 steel

M

mihaelx

Joined
Dec 22, 2023
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I made two knives with it, and they both failed, i put 3mm with wire wrap on both and quenched in brine (12L of water with 7% salts).
There were no cracks, heated to non magnetic and dipped. Clay went off on the first one, second one clayed stayed on until i scraped it off.
This is my clay: Probau Fire resistant clay from Bauhaus in Croatia
Am i putting it on too thick??? Is the issue in the clay?? I dont know
Etched in lemon juice, no hamon line....
 
2-3mm thick is what you want it. Pretty much any clay will work. I never wire the clay on.
The .4% of chromium and .5% of manganese in 26C3 can keep a very active hamon down. You should get a basic suguha hamon, though.

Questions:
1) Did the blades harden fully?
2) Have you sanded the blades to 400 grit and etched in FC? Lemon juice won't work well.
3) Blade thickness and length?
4) What type forge did you use?
 
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Yes they are hard, one of them is a kitchen knife which my family is using, i hand sanded to 1500, cleaned it with acetone, its 3mm thich, like 20 cm long, and other is also 3mm with 10 cm, i used my makeshift "forge" which is just hardwood coals with hair dryer on it, they got even heat and non magnetic. Is it maybe that i grind to like little less than 1mm on the edge before heat treat? Could that be it? I am very carefull afterwards tough while final grinding, diping it in water after 3 4 passes on belt
 
this is the exact composition from rockbladekilns
C:Cr:Mn:P:S:Si:
1.25%0.3%0.4%0.02%0.01%0.2%
 
Did you do any heat processing of the steel before heat treatment? Like normalisations, annealing?

I would suggest trying another one, and post up photos of the clay before hand. As Stacy said 26c3 should be able to do a basic hamon
 
Does what I call a working hamon all day long:

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I've done several hundred, I dunno how many probably around five hundred or so. Anyhoo I only recall one maybe two that didn't have any activity. Some are bolder than others but there is almost always something there.

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I'm actually planning to harden some 26c3 blades this weekend. I'm happy to put a hamon on one, if you think some photos of my inexpert process would be useful?
 
While it is a dream to heat treat and one of my favorite carbon steels, my experience with 26C3 and hamon is that it is finicky. I've gotten really nice hamon that follows my clay on some knives but more often than not it is as Mr. Ferry shows.
I had to tinker with my HT protocol and try different temps.
In the end if I really want hamon I use W2. It's more reliable in my hands.
 
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Some time ago on Blade forums, I did a WIP on this subject. It was titled,
Hamon's, quick and easy, WIP
You can do a search and find it. It might give you some ideas.
 
hmm after reading it i think maybe the issue is that i dont leave it overnight?? i leave it for hour 2 3 and then put in oven so its hard in less time, next time im gonna go the patient route
 
Here is what I use for claying:
The blade should be scrubbed clean of all oils and such with soap and hot water.
I make up a thin wash of satanite and water. It is about the consistency of a cream or a melted milkshake. I coat the entire blade with a wash of this, scrubbing the blade with the slurry using my fingers. I let the excess drip off, and let it dry completely ... usually overnight, but occasionally using a hair dryer. At this point it looks like it is painted with ugly grey paint.
Next, I make up more satanite/water to a consistency of Greek yogurt. Using a popsicle stick or small artist's brush, I apply this to the spine and down the blade bevels to where I want the hamon to show. If adding ashi lines, I do it now. Try to match the hamon pattern on both sides. I let this dry overnight.
Heat the blade (HT oven is best) to the austenitization temp and hold time. Quench in one straight plunge. Move up and down gently as you count 1-2-3 pull out ...1-2-3 ... put back in ... 1-2-3 ... remove the blade and hang by the tang to cool or place in plates if that is what you do. You can straighten minor warps quickly with gloved hands until it starts to stiffen around 400°F.

As for the clay. most any refractory will work if thinned to the correct thickness and allowed to completely dry. The wash coat makes the clay stay on better and seems to improve the hamon.
 
I clayed up a couple of the 26c3 petties i needed to heat treat. These photos are only a test etch after a surface conditioning belt, i haven't done a proper polish.
The full process here was normalising, grinding the bevels back to about 1mm thickness with 120 grit, spine thickness is around 2.5-3mm. Slip coat of satanite clay, one blade wrapped with 0.5mm stainless mig wire (it's in the shop), and then thicker clay. Heating was done in a gas forge, quenched in ~50c horton's aqua quench mixed 1:9 with water, dry ice cold treatment afterwards, 180c temper
The quenchant is somewhere between fast oil and water

The k-tip one cracked at the hamon on the front. Scratches there were 120 grit running parallel with the edge, might have been a bit square there? My thought is it's more to do with the clay, I think i'll try more ashi(?) lines on the next attempt. I've read that they help resist this sort of cracking?
I'm not sold on the wire being necessary, so for the next few i'll probably skip that.
I'll post a better photos when they're finished.

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