Recommendation? Simple heat treat steel that produces good clay hamons?

[Tyler.t76]

I’m looking to try doing some clay hamons just for fun, and wondering if anyone has an idea of what easy to heat treat steels would work, easy as in something similar to 1084, 8670, or any other steels that don’t require long soak times that can’t be achieved in a forge. Also does anyone have a recommendation for what clay or similar product works well and is affordable?

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

26C3 is readily available. Cheap, and produces a good hamon.
1075 with low Mn is very good.
W2 is also good if it has low Mn.

While all these are best with a 10-minute soak at a controlled temperature (HT oven), they can be done in a forge with a shorter soak.

 

[DevinT]

1095

Hoss

 

[Tyler.t76]

26C3 is readily available. Cheap, and produces a good hamon.
1075 with low Mn is very good.
W2 is also good if it has low Mn.

While all these are best with a 10-minute soak at a controlled temperature (HT oven), they can be done in a forge with a shorter soak.

I looked at W2 but was afraid to bite the bullet, may try it out! And I’ve never heard of 26c3 before, does it perform well for things like kitchen knives, and do you know if it quenches well in warm canola oil? Thanks for the help!

 

[DevinT]

I looked at W2 but was afraid to bite the bullet, may try it out! And I’ve never heard of 26c3 before, does it perform well for things like kitchen knives, and do you know if it quenches well in warm canola oil? Thanks for the help!

Canola oil is a very poor choice for any shallow hardening steel.

Hoss

 

[Alex Topfer]

26c3, satanite clay, canola oil quench
if you can get your hands on some faster quenching oil that would work better
in my experience it's a lovely steel for kitchen knives. w2 is also good, I use both depending on the dimensions i can get and the blades i'm planning.

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

26C3 is a steel that is similar to the Hitachi paper steels. It falls between white paper and blue paper steel. Some folks call it "spicy white".
Takes a very wicked edge, gets very hard, and is simple to HT. Many suppliers carry it.

 

[Horsewright]

I've used 26C3 for quite a few small lil working knives and I really like it performance wise. This one has a down and dirty, quick, what I call a working hamon:

Sometimes ya get a lil more than other times but ya still have a great knife:

 

[Tyler.t76]

I've used 26C3 for quite a few small lil working knives and I really like it performance wise. This one has a down and dirty, quick, what I call a working hamon:

Sometimes ya get a lil more than other times but ya still have a great

I've used 26C3 for quite a few small lil working knives and I really like it performance wise. This one has a down and dirty, quick, what I call a working hamon:

Sometimes ya get a lil more than other times but ya still have a great knife:

Beautiful knife, I’ll have to look into it!

 

[Tyler.t76]

26c3, satanite clay, canola oil quench
if you can get your hands on some faster quenching oil that would work better
in my experience it's a lovely steel for kitchen knives. w2 is also good, I use both depending on the dimensions i can get and the blades i'm planning.

Awesome, I’ll have to shop around and find some satanite clay and 26c3, thanks!

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

Satinite is available from many of thel knife suppliers. Many of us get it and other refractory products from High Temp Tools and Refractory. Brownell's sells serval suitable anti-scale refractory products.
There are several other refractory clays that work as well. Plistix, and ATP-641 are a couple. The NuClayer system is very good, but a bit pricy.

One tip is not to put it on very heavy. A thin coating between 1/16" and 1/8" thick works well. There are many past threads on hamons that you can find using the Custom Search Engine in the stickys.

 

[Tyler.t76]

Satinite is available from many of thel knife suppliers. Many of us get it and other refractory products from High Temp Tools and Refractory. Brownell's sells serval suitable anti-scale refractory products.
There are several other refractory clays that work as well. Plistix, and ATP-641 are a couple. The NuClayer system is very good, but a bit pricy.

One tip is not to put it on very heavy. A thin coating between 1/16" and 1/8" thick works well. There are many past threads on hamons that you can find using the Custom Search Engine in the stickys.

Thanks so much!

 

[Horsewright]

Beautiful knife, I’ll have to look into it!

Thanks!