W2 question regarding hamon's

[Mike Davis]

I know W-2 is a shallow hardening steel. What i want to know is exactly how shallow does it harden? I am concerned with doing HT at about .100 thickness and then grinding it as hardened. I don't want to go through the trouble of a clay coat if i end up grinding the hamon out of the steel. I will be profiling kitchen knife blanks out of .103 W2 from Aldo, and clay coating before and bevel grinding. I will still be making them, but would like to see a nice hamon come out of this.
I know there are a few hamon heavy hitters out there, hoping you can give me some insight.

Thanks
Mike

 

[NVHammerHead]

W2 is a shallow hardening steell..what "shallow" means is that the steel will harden "only so far" and for knfie-making thicknesses that really is not a factor..now if you were hardening say a pirce that is say 6" round stock 5 feet long then the center will not harden...there will be a hardened area of about 1" or so in from the outside surface...

Now what this does mean is you can get some really nifty "zone hardening" out of it with all sorts "stuff" going on in that area, and while you can do that with a deep hardening steel like O-1 you will not get as "crisp" a line as you would with a shallow hardening steel, and the amount of visible "activity" will be less with a deep hardening steel as well..but it can be done..

As for what this Aldo sells...I can not say..I tried to get him to sell me some material to try at three seperate times and he refuses to sell to me..Why this is I do not know..and that is all I can say so I just went and placed my yearly order of 1100 pounds of steel with my usual suppliers..

W-2 is a really nice steel to work with but as far as grinding AFTER HT....I wouldn't suggest that as if you overheat the hardened area you will "loose" the Hamon.... Do as much of the heavy grinding as you can before HT and then very carefully finish grind/sand the rest of the way making sure you do not overheat the blade along the hardened areas..

Good luck

NVHammerHead

 

[Don Hanson III]

NV covered it good, but the W2 I've been using hardens to a depth of 1/8" in a 1" thick test piece. A larger piece might harden deeper because of retained heat deep within the mass, I don't really know though?

.100 W2 will through harden, quenched in Park's 50. No problem there.

Grinding the bevels after heat treating is not so good for hamon. You will be grinding away any activity you may have achieved. I would take the edge down to around .030" before HTing.

 

[Danbo]

As for what this Aldo sells...I can not say..I tried to get him to sell me some material to try at three seperate times and he refuses to sell to me..Why this is I do not know..and that is all I can say so I just went and placed my yearly order of 1100 pounds of steel with my usual suppliers..

NVHammerHead

Not sure what this has to do with the question asked, so why post it here?