The Hamon Thread

[Tom Lewis]

This is a very informative post.

I like my hamons to be dark above the temper line. To get this, I use Rutlands stove cement for clay. After heat treat I dip in 1part FeCl and 3 parts water several times and scrub the blade with 0000 steel wool between etches. Then I use make up pads and use 1500 silican carbide. I concentrate on the bottom part of the blade.
It takes a total of maybe 20 minutes to get this result. For what I sell my knives for I don't want to spend a lot of time bringing out the hamon.

 

[kuraki]

Well after going back to the grinder, disc, add hand sanding again I'm happier with the plunge free look. Still have work to do in the hamon but I'm out of lemons.

My secret weapon for making hamon. Freeze your quench oil

 

[Cardinal Knife]

This is a very informative post.

I like my hamons to be dark above the temper line. To get this, I use Rutlands stove cement for clay. After heat treat I dip in 1part FeCl and 3 parts water several times and scrub the blade with 0000 steel wool between etches. Then I use make up pads and use 1500 silican carbide. I concentrate on the bottom part of the blade.
It takes a total of maybe 20 minutes to get this result. For what I sell my knives for I don't want to spend a lot of time bringing out the hamon.

Nice looking knife sir


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[john april]

wouldent the frozen quench oil make it harden slower? maybe you were joking, or that is part of the secret hamons are an art in themselves. you can follow someones recipe exactly but it never looks like theirs. it seems how you execute the technique is more important than what technique or type of clay you use. i have never had one come out the way i wanted, its a big mystery. someone mentioned the will morrison hamon earlier, i was amazed by that when i saw it too.

 

[Willie71]

I'm sure it was a joke.

You are so right on execution. I've watched and tried a lot of techniques. You have to find what works for you and your steel. I do different things with W2 compared to 1095. They respond differently to the amount of clay and temp/soak. At first I thought 1095 sucked, but as I learned more my results got better.

 

[kuraki]

Just a joke. Don't freeze your quench oil. It just surprised me when I went out to the shop that night. I've dealt with oil in the winter before, hydraulic fluid in the tractor, etc, and I've never seen it freeze like that. But apparently steady nights of -20 F will slush up Parks 50.


Back on topic, I did some polishing with cerium oxide glass polish last night with some interesting results that I simply have not been able to capture on camera. It seems like the cerium is softer than either aluminum oxide, silicon carbide, or chrome oxide, because it would polish the Ji quite interestingly but hardly had any effect on the Ha or Ashi.

Where polishing with 1500 grit silicon carbide in a lemon juice slurry, I was getting a nice blue Ji with some whiting in the Ashi. The cerium oxide cleaned up the color of the Ji, and revealed even more drastic whites, as well as activity in the Ji that did not appear with any other compound I had tried.

I wish I could get a photo that would reflect this because it's rather interesting and is the first time I've felt like there was "life" in my hamon. Articulating the blade in the light makes it appear alive.

Here is another resource I found explaining hardness/properties of various abrasives: http://www.chemcenters.com/images/DATA SHEET/38-1200.pdf

 

[Willie71]

Here's my last one in 1095. Sanded to 800g, and three vinegar, four lemon juice cycles. I ground it as if it was going to be a sabre grind, the went ffg after heat treat.

I used a clay pattern like this (not the same knife, I mixed up 2 projects, and went from the santoku to the sujihiki in my pics incorrectly. Both knives turned out quite similar though):

[/url]IMG_0170 by Wjkrywko, on Flickr[/IMG]

[/url]IMG_0171 by Wjkrywko, on Flickr[/IMG]

[/url]IMG_0173 by Wjkrywko, on Flickr[/IMG]

From here it was sant to 800g, then etch like the knife I showed in my I itial post.

[/url]IMG_0745 by Wjkrywko, on Flickr[/IMG]

[/url]IMG_0743 by Wjkrywko, on Flickr[/IMG]

[/url]IMG_0742 by Wjkrywko, on Flickr[/IMG]

[/url]IMG_0741 by Wjkrywko, on Flickr[/IMG]

This is my best result in 1095 to date, and it's 3/32" steel with a short blade, heightwise.

I was going to buy the supplies for a light box today for better pics, but spent the money plus more on a lathe on clearout.

I have the best wife in the world. I left the decision to her, and she said get the lathe. :thumbup: :love-struck::love-struck::love-struck::love-struck::love-struck::love-struck:

I'll figure the light box out with what I have in my shop.

 

[MBurks]

I've been under the weather the last few days but I have 2 I'm working on.

This one is for a good friend that I have played Music with, built and worked on guitars with, and gotten a LOT of materials from.

1084, a few quick etches in FC then polish with Flitz, then a couple etches in hot vinegar and polish with 1500 grit SC.

1084 doesn't do much.

 

[Beanman13]

Speaking of running out of lemons... Has anyone tried using citric acid from powder rather than lemon juice? I see there are other acids and trace elements in real lemons. I just had the thought that it might make things easier if it did work.

 

[kuraki]

I thought about using lemonshine but used all that up cleaning brass casings.

 

[jdm61]

Here are a couple that I have done over the years, Please pardon the lousy pictures. The gyuto pic is after use.

 

[kuraki]

Here's a new piece I'm working on. It's 1095. I've noticed this banding striation in this material before and tried something different to see if I could really expose it. Where I would generally hand sand to 800 or 1200, then etch and polish repeatedly, this time I hand sanded to 800, etched, then lightly resanded with a backer and 1200 paper. Where polish conforms and tends to wipe away oxides wherever they lie, I was hoping a backer and paper would allow these striations to etch deeper and become more pronounced. I did this three times to get to this point:

Then I etched one more time and polished with cerium oxide which seems to be rather soft, and about the least aggressive polish I've tried.

It's hard to see in a photo because you need to move it in the light, but all of the dark lines are composed of that striated pattern, which looks pretty neat.

 

[S.Alexander]

Here's one I just finished up. I tried a vinegar etch, and rottenstone abrasive polish. I found the rottenstone a bit too fine, so I used a slightly more abrasive powder after this photo was taken. Then I used the rottenstone for final polish. It has a lot more activity than my hamon usually do.

 

[Josh Rider]

Great thread. Here's one I experimented with a little. Hard to capture with the phone. It's not what I was going for, but I learned a lot. This was done with lemon juice and vinegar, loose 1500 powder. Next time I'm going to try a ferric chloride etch for a darker hamon like you guys have, I really like that look.

 

[kuraki]

What steel Josh? How many etch and polish cycles? What kind of vinegar? I've tried to get exactly what you have there before and I'm either too impatient or my vinegar is too weak or I just don't keep at it long enough.

I like the darker ones too but what you have there is pretty damn cool.

 

[Josh Rider]

Thanks, I appreciate that!
W2 white distilled vinegar. I took it to 1200 with sandpaper, etched probably two or three times with makeup pads polishing in between with loose abrasive and water. Then filled a glass with hot vinegar and a couple drops of dawn and soaked for a couple minutes. Polished the oxides off. Then hot lemon juice with a little bit of vinegar and dawn with polishing in between probably 5 or 6 more times. It took a long time.

 

[kuraki]

I think I just didn't let the vinegar ever soak long enough.

 

[Willie71]

I think I just didn't let the vinegar ever soak long enough.

My vinegar soaks vary between 5 and 15 minutes. I let it etch until the colour is almost uniform, but I can still see the hamon.

 

[Willie71]

Here's a new piece I'm working on. It's 1095. I've noticed this banding striation in this material before and tried something different to see if I could really expose it. Where I would generally hand sand to 800 or 1200, then etch and polish repeatedly, this time I hand sanded to 800, etched, then lightly resanded with a backer and 1200 paper. Where polish conforms and tends to wipe away oxides wherever they lie, I was hoping a backer and paper would allow these striations to etch deeper and become more pronounced. I did this three times to get to this point:

Then I etched one more time and polished with cerium oxide which seems to be rather soft, and about the least aggressive polish I've tried.

It's hard to see in a photo because you need to move it in the light, but all of the dark lines are composed of that striated pattern, which looks pretty neat.

That turned out great!

 

[Willie71]

1095 with clayless hamon. Only went to 800 on this. I'll probably bring it up to 1500 or so. Too much potential to leave course. Similar process to the others but using ffff pumice to polish.

[/url]IMG_0761 by Wjkrywko, on Flickr[/IMG]

[/url]IMG_0769 by Wjkrywko, on Flickr[/IMG]