First successful hamon

[jdale]

This is the first hamon i have been able get to look like an actual hamon. Not sure why there wasnt more activity though. The blade is 5.5" long the steel is 1075/1080 and i used APG #36 Refractory Cement to coat the blade, and i let it sit for 3 days in front of the heat vent to be sure it was cured. The small non hamon area by the guard is rather puzzling too, especially since the clay covered the entire back of the ricasso. That said i still really like this blade. FYI many thanks to John Doyle for all the help with my hamon issues.

[IMG][/IMG]

[Ray Rogers]

Apparently, you moved the picture so we can't see it ....

[jdale]

Thanks for the heads up, It would have been a while before i noticed that.

[hondo76]

I can see the pic! Looks good man.

[Ray Rogers]

The ricasso is thick and holds a lot of heat, I'm guessing the clay over that area was as thin as on the rest of the blade. Probably needed to be thicker in that area to hold the heat longer so the blade wouldn't harden in that spot ...

[Doug Lester]

That is interesting. I would have thought that being 1075/1080 (from Admiral?) that it would be more likely to make an "auto hamon" in the thick part of the ricasso. But that would depend on the manganese level and grain size. For being covered with mortar something was able to cool it fast enough to form martensite.

One thing that I did notice is the sharp inside corner where the blade and the tang meet. That could be a nasty stress raiser that could lead to a failure of the tang at that point.

Doug

[jdale]

Originally Posted by Doug Lester

One thing that I did notice is the sharp inside corner where the blade and the tang meet. That could be a nasty stress raiser that could lead to a failure of the tang at that point.

Doug

I definitely overlooked that, i should have used a round file when squaring up the ricasso.

[ricky_arthur]

Looks good, I don't know of anything in knife making more fun than revealing secrets hidden until the etch. Feels like a magic trick.

[Crex]

Agree with Doug on the tang/ricasso thing, especially since it appears that it took on the hardening in the quench. You can draw the tang up to the ricasso with a little care and a torch and maybe relieve some of that stress. Clamp the blade right up to the plunge cut in a vise with aluminum jaw covers such that the thinner blade is in full contact with the aluminum. This will act as a heat sink and protect the blade from over heating. Then heat the tang with a torch until it "colors" the back edge of the ricasso area blue. Let cool to touch re-finish and etch the blade again. Should make it so that you can file radius's in the tang-ricasso web.

[Kostoglotov]

I haven't had a lot of success getting Admirals 1080 to show Hamons like 1095 or W2

At least you didn't get the alloy banding

[jdale]

Originally Posted by Crex

heat the tang with a torch until it "colors" the back edge of the ricasso area blue. Let cool to touch re-finish and etch the blade again.

If I temper back the ricasso area wont that screw up the hamon when i re-etch?

Would it be worth my time putting the blade back into the file guide and taking a little more off the ricasso area and introducing a curve where the tang meets, or would the re temper be easier to pull off?

[Crex]

No, if you clamp the blade as directed, nothing will change with regards to the hamon. You're not re-heattreating the blade, only drawing the temper to a higher temp in the necessary area to hopefully relieve those critical points. The issue with the tang to ricasso transition is that you have already introduced stress to the area when you HT'd with the hard angles in place and judging by the hamon shadowing the tang area, the tang transition is as hard as the blade edge at present.
Might find it a bit difficult to file that portion down. Plus it will change the look and balance of the blade.