What Am I Seeing?

[DanF]

15n20, blade 3" long, 3/4" edge to spine, spine .100 thick, satanite wash (very thin all blade), 1/16 - 3/32" satanite halfway from edge to spine, ht to just past non-magnetic (tc showed 1470-ish) quenched in 130*f canola, 2 minute dip (once) in feCl. The "pattern"visible does not resemble (even remotely) the thicker satanite covering I applied.
So, does this pic say anything to the hamon makers other than, DANG that's ugly?
Trying to figure out where to go from here.
Thanks,

 

[Willie71]

15n20 will hamon if you have aldo’s Stock. It won’t follow the clay very well, as the nickel makes it deeper hardening. It looks like you still have some decarb to sand through.

 

[DanF]

Yep, I left some decarb on to highlight what was visible as I suck with a camera.
I'll check out Aldo's stock.
Thanks much.

15n20 will hamon if you have aldo’s Stock. It won’t follow the clay very well, as the nickel makes it deeper hardening. It looks like you still have some decarb to sand through.

 

[Willie71]

The decarb will etch differently than the good steel, so you won’t see where the hamon structures are really formed. This is one I did a few years ago when W2 was nearly impossible to find. It’s much easier to just buy W2, 1095, or hitachi white.

100_2257 by Wjkrywko, on Flickr

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

15N20 isn't a good hamon choice, IMHO. It will walk the hamon back nearly to the spine if any shows at all. The dark area on the ricasso is all that is left of the hamon attempt. The stuff at the tip is decarb and fire etch, and should grind off clean.

 

[DanF]

15N20 isn't a good hamon choice, IMHO. It will walk the hamon back nearly to the spine if any shows at all. The dark area on the ricasso is all that is left of the hamon attempt. The stuff at the tip is decarb and fire etch, and should grind off clean.

The stuff at the tip was what I did not understand, thanks for that input Stacy.
Looking around, seems like 1075 currently fetches a premium price.

 

[DanF]

The decarb will etch differently than the good steel, so you won’t see where the hamon structures are really formed. This is one I did a few years ago when W2 was nearly impossible to find. It’s much easier to just buy W2, 1095, or hitachi white.

100_2257 by Wjkrywko, on Flickr

I have some 1095 stashed away I think. I'll get that out and see what I can come up with. Thanks again.

 

[skillgannon]

1075 is cheaper than 1084 and 15N20 at Aldo's

 

[DanF]

15n20 - $8+
1084 - $13+
1075 - 21+
Am I missing something there? Lemme go back and look again, hoping I looked at it wrong.

 

[Ian Fifelski]

15n20 - $8+
1084 - $13+
1075 - 21+
Am I missing something there? Lemme go back and look again, hoping I looked at it wrong.

Yeah thats right, but the 15n20 is sold much thinner hence the price difference.

If we are at the same size, 1075 is a dollar more than 1084 (at .187). At .250 the 1084 is $3 more.

The 15n20 is not sold that thick but as close as I can get the thicknesses 15n20 is $3 more than 1084

 

[DanF]

Yeah thats right, but the 15n20 is sold much thinner hence the price difference.

If we are at the same size, 1075 is a dollar more than 1084 (at .187). At .250 the 1084 is $3 more.

The 15n20 is not sold that thick but as close as I can get the thicknesses 15n20 is $3 more than 1084

Sounds much better, thanks for clearing that up for me.

 

[skillgannon]

The steel is more or less sold by weight. Thinner cost less. 1075 is not sold in thin stock and 15N20 is not sold in thick.

 

[DanF]

One more try, this time with 1095. Looks better (not counting the decarb and fire etch present).
I have a second knife, a kitchen knife in 15n20 displaying a better line than the first, smaller knife, but still nowhere near the line on the 1095.
Now that I kind of understand hamon a little better, time to move on with making knives.
Thanks for all the input and help.