Stop the hamon hate

hamon/ha-mon.......the characters mean "blade (edge)- pattern.

I use the term suguha/sugu-ha for a straight hamon. It refers to the placement of the temper line. Sugu-ha as it would be from the characters means "straight along the edge".
The term sugaba/suga-ba and suguba/sugu-ba are used synonamously with sugu-ha, but actually mean slightly different things.
Sugu-ba usually is used to refer to the width of a straight hamon, but as in most Japanese terms, it is mostly semantics. "ba" refers to the "place or area" of something.
Thus "chu-sugu-ba ham-on" means - "medium (width) - straight- area- (along the) blade (edge) - patern".

The long and short...or is it the O and Ko....... is that hamon are divided into two categories:
Sugu-ha ........ straigh hamon paralell to the edge. This is the older style of hamon.
Midare-ba - usually just called midare............"In Motion" hamon. These can be from a wavy line to a wild tornado. These started showing up in the 1400's, and quickly replaced the straight hamon. There are hundreds of terms describing a midare hamon, all refering to the shape or impression (look) of the hamon. Many of these terms are based on nature, and are the names of things like Bamboo, cloves, groves of maples, clouds, etc.
 
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I'm with SShepherd on this, for anything under 10", a hamon is decorative.
I don't believe though, that at that size you are sacrificing function for form if the hamon is done correctly.
Personally, I love Hamon on monosteel blades. On damascus, though, I think it can detract unless the claying is matched to the pattern.
 
bladsmth said:
hamon/ha-mon.......the characters mean "blade (edge)- pattern.

I use the term suguha/sugu-ha for a straight hamon. It refers to the placement of the temper line. Sugu-ha as it would be from the characters means "straight along the edge".
The term sugaba/suga-ba and suguba/sugu-ba are used synonamously with sugu-ha, but actually mean slightly different things.
Sugu-ba usually is used to refer to the width of a straight hamon, but as in most Japanese terms, it is mostly semantics. "ba" refers to the "place or area" of something.
Thus "chu-sugu-ba ham-on" means - "medium (width) - straight- area- (along the) blade (edge) - patern".

The long and short...or is it the O and Ko....... is that hamon are divided into two categories:
Sugu-ha ........ straigh hamon paralell to the edge. This is the older style of hamon.
Midare-ba - usually just called midare............"In Motion" hamon. These can be from a wavy line to a wild tornado. These started showing up in the 1400's, and quickly replaced the straight hamon. There are hundreds of terms describing a midare hamon, all refering to the shape or impression (look) of the hamon. Many of these terms are based on nature, and are the names of things like Bamboo, cloves, groves of maples, clouds, etc.
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Stacy;

i used this site for reference
http://nihontoclub.com/glossary/blade-terminology/hamon-types

suguba 直刃
Straight hamon. Suguba may be classified (according to the width of hamon) as:

•hiro-suguba (wide)
•chu-suguba (medium)
•hoso-suguba (narrow)
 
Yes, I have that site. As it shows, the words are often used interchangably. Sugu-ha is usually just refering to placement of the temper line, while sugu-ba often is modified with the width of the hamon. - hiro/chu/hoso-sugu-ba.
 
i think it may be a regional dialect issue.

creek/stream
pop/soda

funny enough, there are differences in dialect between kyoto and tokyo
 
What I hate is seeing how good they can be & then what mine turn out like.

I've tried a couple for ships and giggles, but I'm using W1 ( easy to get), brine quench & eyeballing temps...

It's fun but the results are totally hit and miss so far.
 
12345678910 said:
What I hate is seeing how good they can be & then what mine turn out like.
Click to expand...

I know what you mean. Perhaps we should study under Matt and Don Hanson, just to name a couple.

Each one I do (try), I always swear that I will never try it again. Butttt....... I always think that maybe this time I might get lucky.

Robert
 
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