What's in your Hamon "kit"?

I bought several 1" rounds from flatground dot com many years ago that have proven to work very well for hamon and performance. Here are a few pics of differentially hardened blades I did with their W1.

medium800.jpg


Same knife, different photo.
medium800.jpg


This one was several years later with a better understanding of the differential hardening process as well as a whole lot more experience with etching and polishing... but the same steel. :)

medium800.jpg
 
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Nick, of course you do a much better job than me, but that's the type of activity I could see in mine, but not as well executed. Probably the same steel source. My data sheet claimed it was 0.5%C. With my testing, it acts like its about 0.9%C, based on austentizing temp experiments.
 
Thank you for the detail. I see you can go shallow or deep into the hamon rabit hole. I won't be able to help myself! I'm going to at least try on this one handle or no handle. I'll just tape it up like crazy.
 
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These are the specs that flatground provides, and I would say (from how the steel reacts/performs) that it's pretty accurate... although I think the actual Manganese content is a bit lower.

C 0.95/1.05
Mn 0.30/0.40
Si 0.10/0.25
Cr 0.15 max
W 0.15 max
 
Sweet! Thanks Willie and Nick! Hey Nick, when was the last time you bought some W1 from flatground? Just curious, as maybe you got lucky with a good smelt when you bought yours a while back?

MaelStrom: Hamon is pronounces like Ramone lol.. also to answer your Q for me, this is what I do: Get the blade very clean with hot water and dish soap - Etch - Spray with windex (amonia) to Neutralize the acid and then give the blade a quick rinse with the hose - Flitz with the lil makeup pads - Then I clean the blade again with hot water and dish soap to get any oils off of it - Then etch again.. and I just repeat these steps a number of times until I like what I see, then I finally use some of the 1500 SC mixed with some 3 in 1 and rub it on with this stuff I have that is gince like a dense foam.. At the very end I oil the blade with Ballistol, it works great and almost leaves a dry film so it's not all "oily" (so to speak), and it doesnt leave any strong odors after about an hour.. but it does smell good IMO :D Like I said, I pretty much follow what Nick does :)

As for the flitz being finer than the 1500 SC, I'm not really sure.. With hamons it's not so much about the grit when polishing, but it's about the way the substance "cuts" the steel. Just like how Stacy listed all those different powdered abrasives, some will cut the steel differently than others and may give a subtle or even dramactic difference in the final look, but I'm not experienced with any thing else other than the 1500 SC.

~Paul
My YT Channel Lsubslimed
 
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It seems like this is almost like developing the steel with the etchant and painting with the different compounds.

Years from now that's how I'll describe it with a knowing air.
 
The painting is done when the steel is in the fire.... time and temp. ;) :) (those are pretty much Don Fogg's words) :D

Etching and polishing just brings the painting into full view. :cool:

I hardly use Flitz anymore. I used it a lot back when that WIP was done, but I pretty much always just use loose abrasives now.


Paul- I have always gotten quality stock from flatground. I ordered W1 from them a few times and it always reacted the same. I have purchased a whole bunch of O1 from them and it's been very consistent as well.
 
NickWheeler said:
The painting is done when the steel is in the fire.... time and temp.
Click to expand...

Very true. Here's one I just did today just like that. Using no clay........only time and temp in my salts. :)

This blade is 8 1/2" long, 1075.





I dislike flitz for polish too. And it seems like NO ONE around here even knows what it is, much less sells any. So...........I experimented and made a homemade polishing compound that worked really well for me.

I bought some Turtle wax rubbing compound, the red stuff, not the white polishing compound. Put some in a dish, scraped a very healthy amount of white matchless buffing compound into it and then quite a bit of 3-in-1 oil to make a nice slurry. It worked very well. I tried it next to flitz and I liked it much better. You can scrub hard in one place and it doesn't leave a real shiny spot. Very good for final polishing and blending....at least for my needs on this knife here.

I'm still not even close to Nick Wheeler at bringing out those nice wispy white lines.......but I'm trying and I'm learning. ;)

Anyway, thought I'd share that if someone wants to try it.
 
OK I couldn't wait for the 1500 sc to come in so I used heated vinegar and white buffing compound.
k4zd3r.jpg


I've caught the bug...
11qh002.jpg


:D
 
J. Doyle said:
Very true. Here's one I just did today just like that. Using no clay........only time and temp in my salts. :)

This blade is 8 1/2" long, 1075.





I dislike flitz for polish too. And it seems like NO ONE around here even knows what it is, much less sells any. So...........I experimented and made a homemade polishing compound that worked really well for me.

I bought some Turtle wax rubbing compound, the red stuff, not the white polishing compound. Put some in a dish, scraped a very healthy amount of white matchless buffing compound into it and then quite a bit of 3-in-1 oil to make a nice slurry. It worked very well. I tried it next to flitz and I liked it much better. You can scrub hard in one place and it doesn't leave a real shiny spot. Very good for final polishing and blending....at least for my needs on this knife here.

I'm still not even close to Nick Wheeler at bringing out those nice wispy white lines.......but I'm trying and I'm learning. ;)

Anyway, thought I'd share that if someone wants to try it.
Click to expand...

I've been playing with the clay less hamons lately. I really like the effect. That 1075 blade is gorgeous. What temp are you using?
 
NickWheeler said:
These are the specs that flatground provides, and I would say (from how the steel reacts/performs) that it's pretty accurate... although I think the actual Manganese content is a bit lower.

C 0.95/1.05
Mn 0.30/0.40
Si 0.10/0.25
Cr 0.15 max
W 0.15 max
Click to expand...

When I spoke with Kevin Cashen about steel and hamons, he noted a small amount of vanadium helps, and is the reason W2 is much more active than 1095. The W1 you use, and that I use, has Vanadium in it. I wonder if this causes the same effect as lowering manganese. The Hitachi white, which has no vanadium, but very low manganese, makes dramatic hamons too. I need to set up a light box to take proper pictures.
 
Soooo.... if you unknowingly splash some vinegar onto a towel a finished carbon knife is sitting on you can go into your shop the next day and see what an all night etch looks like!
bdu106.jpg


Whoops! That is after I scraped some crud off of it. It got the blade portion of a knife that was ready for a handle as well. That one I changed now from a fine belt finish to a 1200 hand sanded. Heh.

Pretty corroded as well but I refinished it from a scotch brite to 1200 hand rubbed (2500 then 1200 straight pulls).
2r44pbr.jpg
 
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Ouch that sucks man! Ya live ya learn right :o I like how your original one turned out, looks nice and subtle. Glad ta see you caught the hamon bug too :D Keep posting your work on here, it'll be nice to see how your next one turns out, excecially when you get some good shallow hardening steel to use :thumbup: Keep at it brother! :)

Shaw, thanks, I will send you an email when I get some $$ :cool:

~Paul
My YT Channel Lsubslimed
 
Warren, I've been setting the salts at 1465 F.
 
So did a little etching:
72pqia.jpg


Seemed to take a good etch:
fdynoz.jpg


Polished with the 1500 SC grit and 3 in 1 oil:
inekv9.jpg


I have some small lighter spots near the ricasso at the edge. Tough to see in the picture. Could that be from polishing too much? Maybe an area that was not perfectly clean and did not take an etch?
 
Maelstrom78 said:
So did a little etching:
72pqia.jpg


Seemed to take a good etch:
fdynoz.jpg


Polished with the 1500 SC grit and 3 in 1 oil:
inekv9.jpg


I have some small lighter spots near the ricasso at the edge. Tough to see in the picture. Could that be from polishing too much? Maybe an area that was not perfectly clean and did not take an etch?
Click to expand...

Probably a bit of decarb that you didn't get all the way through. That happened to me last night etching a hamon.
 
Willie71 said:
Probably a bit of decarb that you didn't get all the way through. That happened to me last night etching a hamon.
Click to expand...

Oooh interesting. When I was grinding the decarb I did have to take the edge near the tip down more as it was thicker going into the quench than the edge nearer the ricasso so that would make sense.
 
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