Hamon

HELLGAP

Dealer - Purveyor
I am going to make a hamon line on my next blade. this is what I have, 1084 steel from aldo and the clay I have is RUTLAND REFRACTORY CEMENT it says its good to 2000 f I would like to know should I take a little teaspoon full add a tiny amount of water to make it more runny and then make the wavy line on the blade let it dry and heat treat it. If I dont need to let it dry let me know and if my method is wrong please let me know. Then after I sand it down to 400 then etch and what is the final grit for sanding . I dont know the recipe thanks kellyw
 
Check out the tutorial in Stephan Fowler's forum. He breaks it down Barney Style for us newbies so it's pretty easy to follow. It worked for me.
 
Hellgap I use the Rutlands to and I don't add any water just coat the blade and make your waves.Also I am to inpatient to let dry over night so I use the clay hold it in front of the forge till its dry and the in the forge for heat treating . I agree with murphda2 Steve Fowler's tutorial is great info....Steve
 
I just go in the forge or oven with the clay as soon as I put it on. Never used the clay you mentioned but most of the clay I have used does work better being thinned down some. Don't put it on more than an 1/8" thick. I've had pretty good luck using Aldo's 1084 for producing hamons. For the most part if the hamon is there it will show up when I clean the blade off after heat treat with a 50 grit belt.
 
To really bring out all of the activity in hamons I have used Optical polishing powders instead of sandpaper past 1000 grit. I polished to 600 then 1000 and and worn out 100o and etched with hot vinegar for 30 seconds and used the optical powders to polish, rinse repeat several times.

Seems the powders polish the steel in a different way then the sand paper and allow the activity be be more easily seen. Now if all you are wanting is a bit of a wavy line then this is all overkill and just sand and etch.

You can buy the optical powders on ebay.


Seth
 
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Thanks guys I read stephan s tutorial and is excellent . Even I understood it the first time lol usually I read something twice to fully understand it but this was and excellent well done tutorial. I will show in the next few days. kellyw
 
The way I polish out my hamons after etching is with red rouge. I take a disposable towel, wrap it around my sanding stick, and then spray it down with WD40. Then take a bar or red rouge, and scrape some fine shavings onto the towel and work them in with your finger. The WD40 helps to let it smear into the paper. Once it's loaded up (doesn't take a ton), I go to the blade and polish off the oxides, maybe reloading the towel a time or two. The iron oxide works pretty well. Some use green rouge as well.

If it's not looking the way I'd like it, I may do another etch and polish, or several more. Anyway, I picked that up from another maker a while back, and it's worked for me the several times I've used it.

--nathan
 
I have a couple of blades that I'm hoping to get HT'd this weekend. I'm going to try out "Bubba-San's" technique of adding activated carbon to the satanite mix and see what happens.
 
Here is a pic of a 1095 blade with the hamon polished the way I mentioned in the earlier post:


picture.php


If all you want is a wavy line then it is overkill. But if you want rolling thunderheads ....



Seth
 

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