My Hamon Process

These are terrific looking !!! I may not get to the hammonns but your blade finishing sure interests me. Please, what is this cotton Make up pad ? Thanks. Frank
 
Great write up Ryan! I know how much work goes into this type of thing even when not laid out so nicely as yours. Very well done. :thumbup: :cool:

And thank you for the mention as well. :)
 
RyanW said:
........................................I immediately spray the entire knife with 100% Amonia to neutralize the FC. then run out to a designated Dirt patch in the yard ........................


I wanted to point out a common error here. Unless you ran out in the dirt patch and dropped dead, I bet you did not spray it with 100% ammonia.
You probably used straihght household ammonia, which is actually 10% ammonium hydroxide, NH4OH.
100% ammonia, NH3, is not a liquid at room temperature, and is nearly as deadly as cyanide.

BTW, the extra strength/ultra strength/max strength ammonia in the store is all 10%.
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Awesome information!

Great point on checking the temp with a magnet, I think soak times are super important when it comes to getting a great hamon and that would help a lot.

Outstanding results as well, the knives are looking stellar!
 
bladsmth said:
I wanted to point out a common error here. Unless you ran out in the dirt patch and dropped dead, I bet you did not spray it with 100% ammonia.
You probably used straihght household ammonia, which is actually 10% ammonium hydroxide, NH4OH.
100% ammonia, NH3, is not a liquid at room temperature, and is nearly as deadly as cyanide.

BTW, the extra strength/ultra strength/max strength ammonia in the store is all 10%.
Click to expand...

That is good to know.

But it did make me laugh as I read it while watching "The Big Bang Theory" on TV. :D
 
Thanks again everyone for the kind words. Most of the time I enjoy the learning process, but more than one occasion the frustration has gotten the best of me! I thought I could possibly save some people a little bit of that frustration by sharing. I edited the 100% Ammonia, thanks Stacy!

quint said:
One question, when doing salt water quench with W2 if you have done this what tempering temperatures do you like or are they generally the same? Thanks.
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Hey Quint, I have only done 3 blades in Brine both were W2 and both cracked in half. I am a Parks 50 guy for now. Not much help for you on this one

Frank Niro said:
Please, what is this cotton Make up pad ? Thanks. Frank
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Frank- This is what they look like. you can get them pretty much anywhere that sells makeup. I buy them in bulk and should invest in their stock at the rate I use them. I hear if you put 100% ammonia on them and sniff you get high... Then DIE!!! :eek:
Make-Off-Signature-Cosmetic-Pads.jpg
 
Thanks Ryan no biggie. I am gonna experiment as I go, shouldnt be to terribly different.

Question that you may be able to help with. Did you heat your brine at all or use it at room temp? Everything that I have read seems to make me think it should be about 120f or so (maybe less or more) to help prevent cracking. Among other things like even grinds and careful blade immersion.
 
Reading through this was very helpful, and will hopefully (hopefully being the keyword here) aid me in strengthening hamons on my future blades. Other searches and advice was covering the very VERY basics, no mentioning of the "why's and how's" or there were other massive chunks of info missing...very tight-lipped bunch. Kudos to you.
 
Quint, I had my Brine at the current temp in my work shop which was around 90 F at the time. But I have heard both heated to 120F and room temp by successful makers. I have done some research on getting better results next time I give it a try and will be doing a Brine then Oil combination quench.

Ninja, What I shared is out there for everyone to read. I just settled on this combination, which will change over time based on my past experience.
 
RyanW said:
Hey Quint, I have only done 3 blades in Brine both were W2 and both cracked in half.
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The brine was so harsh it erased the existence of an entire knife!

Just kidding :) Awesome stuff, and I love the finish you're getting.
 
Great job Ryan. Very clear and informative, thanks for taking your time to post this. I'm printing this and putting it in my hamon notebook. :)
 
Very nice walk through! And those pictures speak for themselves...

Now, while I always put my blades in edge up anyhow, I question your heat sink theory. Theoretically, (given that you allowed your oven sufficient time to "equalize", should not everything be roughtly 1470F?

Have you actually noticed a difference in heating edge up vs. edge down? Just curious.
 
Yeah, I know it's an old thread. But this topic will always be of interest so it will always be revisited. Thanks Ryan for posting this write up. As new makers (like me) get to the point in their development where they start experimenting with these techniques they will inevitably start searching out this kind of information. Thanks for adding your process to the list of tested techniques.


"Clay Coat:
Apply a thin coat of Furnace Cement (Rutlands) or Satanite on the spine with thin fingers coming down in the same place on both sides of the blade. Do not go all the way to the cutting Edge. (I will attach a photo of one of my knives with the clay on it). I also thin out the cement and use a small art paint brush to wash around the edges of the already applied clay to increase the Ashi (White stuff in the Hamon when polished up). After I have applied the clay I let it air dry for a few hours, then place in the oven at 275F for 30 minutes to dry completely. "

I just wanted to clarify one point here. Ashi isn't necessarily the white stuff in the hamon. It refers to the tentacles or bits that emanate down from the main line of the hamon. "Ashi" in Japanese directly translates into "legs". In your first photo, the bits of clay/satanite/cement on your blade dropping down from the main body of your insulation would be ashi or produce ashi in the hamon. But that is a small point. I will be referring to your post frequently as I begin experimenting with this technique on my own blades. Thanks for your contribution.
 
Thanks for the bringing this one up. This is an nice easy to understand breakdown on hamons and the felt pad sanding block idea is genius.
 
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