hamon line

[levensailor.r]

just got fineshed forging a blade from 52100 fixing to heat treat it but want to show the hamon line or heat treat line. gonna use satinite for the shielding on the blade did one out of 1095 an the line was very distinctive after I soaked it in farric clorride but was afraid to polish it was scared ide lose the line ,so I just lightly polished an oiled.can you polish the knife to get a shiny blade an still see the hamon line ? an will the tempering change the line or do I need to temper since Ive already got the softer back an hard edge from this proccess ????

[Doug Lester]

I don't hold out much hope for you creating a hamon line. 52100 is a deep hardening steel with the nose of the ITT curve shifted considerably to the right. You would have to delay cooling from just under 1400 degrees to around 1100 degrees for slightly over two seconds. It's not likely that you can achieve this with a clay coating. If you want to show a hamon you will probably have to stick with with a shollow hardening steel like one of the 10XX or W series. Not every steel is usable with every heat treating method to creat a knife blade as I learned when I tried to austemper 9260.

Doug Lester

[levensailor.r]

Thanks Lester,how about the 1095 if I polish the blade would the hamon still show ??

[Doug Lester]

I'll give it a whirle being that people who go for hamons aren't replying. As I understand it, polishing will accentuate a hamon. Some also etch the steel after polishing to bring it out more. You might want to do a search on this site. Go to bar at the top of this page and click search. That will give you a drop down window. Just follow the instructions from there.

Doug Lester

[Mike Turner]

Here is some good reading for you,

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=765305

[levensailor.r]

thanks guys I realy like the look of the knives with the hamon line .just want to make sure Im doing it right thanks again....