in need of hamon help

M

mdoyle

Joined
Feb 10, 2006
Messages
1,005
This is my first attempt @ a hamon. Blade is O1, 3/16" at the spine, 1 3/4" at the belly, 4.5" blade, 9'' overall, ground to zero edge. Refractory cement, heated to 1500, quench, double temper @ 400, sanded to 600, buffed, degreased, etched in solution of 2 capfulls of FeCl, 15 capfulls of white vinegar, two drops dish soap. Hand sanded with 1500 under water. Degreased again and etched again. Sprayed off with windex, then rust inhibitor. I am pleased with the hamon but I am not sure whether to tame it down or not. My main concern however is that the hamon line does not extend all the way to the choil. How much of a concern is this? What would you do? Also what do you think of the blade design? This is what I came up with when I sat down with a blank sheet of paper and decided to come up with something "different".
Thanks,
Matt Doyle
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e3/tmdoyle/IMGP0060.jpg
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e3/tmdoyle/IMGP0061.jpg
 
ahh shoot. Dont worry about the choil ;) Be sure to test the heat treat before going forward. Sharpen the knife and beat it through a 2x4 for a few miniuts and see is it gets really dull. If so you will need to heat treat it again.

Spray with wd-40 and use 0000 steel whool on it. It will make it look a little more refind and is easy to do.
Good looking knife :)
 
Thanks Brian. I will try that and post some pics when finished. Nice to have the knig of hamons right here to learn from.;)
Matt
 
I think it looks good. The hamon is fine where it is unless you want to do it again and make it extend further back. It would look better but it's not necessary. Use steel wool and WD40 like Brian said and rub in the same direction that you hand sanded.
 
main thing is make sure its hard enough. Its a bad feeling using a finished knife that wantn't hard enough :grumpy: Trust Me :D
 
That looks cool, but personally I'd do it over to get the full edge hardened. On my knives I would wet sand to 1200 grit, etch for about 5-10 seconds in ferric chloride (not sure what concentration... I made the solution a long time ago), then I go back and wet sand again with the last grit I used. Sometimes I would go to 1500, but I never removed all of the scratches in between grits, so it was a mix of different grit finishes in the end, anyway. In any case, to me it gives a nicer look even than WD-40 and 0000 steel wool, but try them both out and see what you like more. That's a cool knife!
 
Thanks for the tip. The good thing about the etching process is that you never really have to be done! Just try something different and keep it or keep trying. I think I may have to keep the hamon line the way it is now though because I sharpened the blank last night at work. The edge is so thin that I would be afraid of losing too much of the original contour if I re ht'd. Still, generally pleased for a first attempt and if it were perfect I wouldn't need to make more to get better. Has anyone ever made a knife that they were completely happy with? I think I already know the answer to that one.

Matt Doyle
 
Next time try not buffing, take it to 1000, then a light, quick dip in fecl, like 10 secs tops. Then neutralize, and rub with simichrome. Its all in preference, though....

For clay, its easy to push a hamon beyond the choil like that. Beyond your plunge, theres alot more hot metal then in the thin section of the blade. That ricasso takes longer to cool in quench. Any clay in that area will usually push the hamon too far forward. Same with a slow quenchant.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top