What happened to this hamon?

ATX

ATX

Joined
Jun 5, 2008
Messages
98
This hamon can out strange. This is a 1095 blade, clayed with satanite, and quenched in oil. On this blade, it was quenched in medium oil, not the faster Parks 50 (by mistake). What caused the multitude of lines?

Was it quenching 1095 in medium oil and not hardened completely?
Blade should be sanded down further to clear up the hamon?
Just want to know why the multitude of lines so I can either repeat it or avoid it as needed.
 

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i'd definitely sand it ... theres some decarb there... then it'll be better to see what you have...
- i'd use a very fast oil for 1095..
 
You are not looking at the hamon right now. That is the etch/decarb line burned into the blade surface during HT. I would guess that the temp was a little higher than desirable. The hamon will be revealed when you sand that down smooth to 400 grit. At 400 give it a quick etch in dilute FC and see what shows.
Stacy
 
Yes - looks like decarb.

Also - looks like you are trying to polish the blade, which will not reveal the hamon. Hand sand to 600 grit and stop, then etch.
 
From Kevin Cashen's recent quenching thread:

"Many organic oils will break down and deposit bits of nasty crust and scale on the blade (just ask you wife about this the next time she is scrubbing on a blackened pan that had oil burned in it). Often if the chemistry was not designed to remain neutral under the extreme heat there will be staining of the steel as well. Often when a really good quench oil is reaching the end of its life it will become evident by the increased sating of the quenched parts. I have also seen some oils that can have a carburizing or decarburizing effect on the steel and leave a nasty marbled surface of high an low spots on the blade that requires quite a bit of effort to return to smooth, I am certain others have seen this annoying issue before. "

This is exactly what happened. I used peanut oil because my Parks 50 had not arrived yet.
Again, thanks guys.
 
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