San Mai etching question

15N20 is a high carbon, high nickel steel. It is not stainless? 410 SS is what people often use for SS cladding.
 
I don't blame you for being upset! You spent a lot of time on it and the welds look good. I would be pushing to get ny money back!! I try to avoid Amazon for any steel purchases for this exact reason.
 
This is one I recently made. It had an outside of 410 SS and a core of 1095. It was etched for one minute in FeCl then sprayed with Windex to neutralize. If your core was 1095 it should have turned black. The FeCl I use is one part acid to 3 parts water. The acid I have is maybe ten years old but still seems to be doing a good job. I grind 36 grit, 110 grit, 220 grit, 22 Norax and 16 Norax. I hand sand to 1200 grit before etching. I don't think the seller sold you the right steel. I once bought some AEB-L steel from someone and it was not AEB-L steel. Alpha steel is my first choice. They always have sent me what I ordered. Alpha steel is also easy to heat treat. It's a shame to go to all the work like you have done and then have the wrong steel.
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Leave the blade in the FC tank overnight. After rinsing off and neutralizing with Windex or TSP scrub it clean with a scotch-brite pad. If there isn't a ridge you can feel with your fingernail between the two steels, then they are not 15N20 and 1095.
If this doesn't change things, sand it down to 400 grit and put a handle on. It will still be a fine knife.
 
Just another update. The company refunded the entire order. B banjobend you may want to reach out to them as well. I sent a message to Hermit Tools through Amazon describing the problem and included a picture of the result.

I got this message from Hermit Tools:

We are very sorry that the product did not achieve the desired effect. This is our mistake. The probable reason is that there is a problem with this batch of products. We will refund.
I'm really sorry for wasting your time and energy. The new batch of products will solve these problems.
Best Regards!
Hermit Tools
 
Real knife making supply houses. Not amazon/ebay. Etsy may be questionable as well.
 
Jantz, Pops, Alpha knife supply, texas knife, new jersey steel baron, usaknifemaker, knife and gun, etc.
 
I got a decent price on 15n20 from Alpha, shipped very quickly also.
I've made up a couple of san mai billets and have one knife shaped and ready for bevels/etching, hopefully today or tomorrow. We'll see how it goes.
 
dwaterfield said:
I got a decent price on 15n20 from Alpha, shipped very quickly also.
I've made up a couple of san mai billets and have one knife shaped and ready for bevels/etching, hopefully today or tomorrow. We'll see how it goes.
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He already gave the answer.

But yeah. If you check the stickied threads there are a lot of trusted vendors for different materials listed up there. Not just for steel, but wood, and various other things you might need when making knives.

Amazon can get you ok steel. But you're rolling the dice. And thats not something you want to do when spending your time and effort on a blade.

Not only does alpha give you what it claims. You can even use the code on the steel to get the exact elemental values of the piece you recieve.
 
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