im a hamonholic

D

Dakota 11

Joined
Apr 14, 2006
Messages
252
helo my name is Pete and i have a terrible addiction. Since getting Don's W2 and my forge running its all i think about. when im at work plugging along i think hamons and how to make them better/more interesting. I dont know how to measure successful hamons other than i have been very lucky and have made one every time i have tried so far. some are plain but others i like. the one i am working now is very subtle in that its a very neat little wave action. what i find crazy is the amount of time i hand sand these things for. i have over 4 hrs in the balde im doing now just hand sanding and i think maybe another 2 since im not satisfied. Am i hand sanding to much? betwen the hand cramping and the late night in the garage my wife thinks i fell of the deep end. Thanks Don for all the trouble u have caused me lol. Soon i think ill start losing sleep, just so i can play with finishing hamons. So how bad do u all have this affliction?
 
You just have the warning signs. When you hand sand for 18hrs etch then decide to go to a finer grit "like a folded paper bag" hopeing to bring it out more. You water quinch several times to get shadow hamons and draw patterns on napkins while at dinner with your wife(who had to make an appointment to see you) are you truely addicted.
 
Yup.

Sucks.

I'll admit, though, that it's much easier to cope with if you eliminate the strain of hand sanding so much by forcing yourself to learn how to use finer grit belts.

...which, of course, leads to a whole new bag of worms...
 
I love good cigars, but I have seen pictures of the inside of lungs of heavy smokers and other images of cancerous tissue, so I watch how often I enjoy tobacco. I live good bourbon, good scotch or almost any good alcohol but I have seen images of the inside of alcoholic’s livers, so I watch how much I drink. I love things that are pleasing to the senses but knowing what it does on the inside always causes me to embrace moderation, thus I can appreciate your passion but could not share your addiction. Just like with Adam and Eve, taking a bite of that fruit of knowledge will remove plenty of enjoyment from your life, if you like those beautiful quench lines avoid that pesky serpent in the fruit tree and stay in Eden.
 
Wait until you get the bug to start using hazuya and jizuya. It will really accent a true hamon, but will also make you certifiably crazy.
Also, get Walter Sorrell's "Making Hamons" video.
Stacy
 
Kevin R. Cashen said:
I love things that are pleasing to the senses but knowing what it does on the inside always causes me to embrace moderation, thus I can appreciate your passion but could not share your addiction. Just like with Adam and Eve, taking a bite of that fruit of knowledge will remove plenty of enjoyment from your life, if you like those beautiful quench lines avoid that pesky serpent in the fruit tree and stay in Eden.
Click to expand...


I'm thankful that I'm willing to let that slide under certain circumstances, and still enjoy the activity in a partially-hardened blade, but I'll admit - a knife that is made by me that will be used will be made to the best of my ability with FULL martensite.

Now quit being such a spoilsport, and start the list of which cigars you're bringing me to Ashokan!;)
 
Welcome to the addiction :D Fun ain't it?

I do not feel the same way Kevin does about these beautiful blades :p
 
That they are beautiful? No, I think we think the same about that.:thumbup: The value of beauty to the public has to be taken into account. Did you know we get the name Bella Donna for deadly nightshade because woman in the later Italian renaissance put its toxic juice in their eyes because the resulting extreme pupil dilation was considered most beautiful? Thus the plant is called “beautiful woman” in that language. Also heavy metals were often used for the white face paint a little later throughout Europe for the sake of beauty. Indeed one cannot downplay the sacrifices that have been found reasonable throughout history for beauty.
 
Kevin, I'm just a simple country boy from Boone's Cave N.C,. Sorry, but you have totally lost me.
 
Well dang, I didn't mention a single metallurgical "ite" nor include any charts or diagrams at all this time. :D Perhaps my talent for befuddlement does not rest solely in the techno-babble. ;)

Oops! Nobody has a copyright or patent on "techno-babble" nowdays do they?:eek::foot:
 
hmm a hamon video thanks for helping me spend more money. trying to come to grips with all the crazy japanese or whatever language is used to describe alot of the hamon activity.
 
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder... :D

I’m not so sure that they always look good or look good on everything. If it’s gone to the point of addiction, obsession, or habit,… it might not be such a good thing.

I think they have become very trendy these days.

Let's hear some techno-babble to support Kevin's philosophy. LOL :)
 
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Tai Goo said:
...Let's hear some techno-babble to support Kevin's philosophy. LOL :)
Click to expand...

Oops! There goes another royalty or legal fee:o. Hey I need to do some research, it may not be claimed yet and I have been so often accused of using techno-babble that I could copyright it as my own:D. Then whenever somebody out there is misusing techno-babble I could get some money from it:D.

I should be fair and say something positive however. I must say that I do believe claying a blade and forming a hamon in a full quench is far better than simple edge quenching. I have done my share of hamon in the past and have at least two blades in my “to do” drawer that has clay on them now.

Beauty is indeed in the eye of the beholder, how many women were rendered crippled by foot binding in ancient China due to the trendy appeal of small feet. Corseting reached the point of life threatening when very small waists were all the rage in the west. There can be no doubt that pretty does hold great power over the human mind.
 
Kevin R. Cashen said:
Corseting reached the point of life threatening when very small waists were all the rage in the west.
Click to expand...

...I wondered how you kept such a girlish figure, Kev!

The pros and cons to hamon are, in my eyes, irrelevant. I reason I do it is for the appeal of it, and the art of it. I know better than to believe in any mystic power it may have - other than over my sense of delight!

...I agree, Tai. Just like anything else, the transition line we speak of can be appealing or detracting, just the same as the right blade with the wrong handle material - over even the right handle material, but the wrong sense of scale.
 
Now Kevin.... :p


I think there's a lot more to it than a collector's desire for the final result caused by heat treating with clay.

There's a great deal of desire, for me, just to continue to understand it and get more consistant/repeatable results. A lot of doing a clayed up blade is about the journey... for me anyway.

I'm pretty sure you don't forge because it makes a better blade in the end! ;) :p

Well, unless you were thinking about super-gluing those layers of O1/L6 together ;)
 
I agree Matt, by no means do hamon look good on everything (atleast in my opinion), but damn do they look good on some things. I am surprised the whole mysticism behind hamon isn't D-E-D dead yet.
 
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