Hamon Tutorial -LOTS of pics

[StephanFowler]

This is great. Thanks for doing this Stephan. I love the way the clay quench looks when finished. Just amazing. Wow now I have to get the clay and try this on the w2 I have ready for it.

Definitely, W2 will give you wonderful wispy character in the Hamon, it's really awesome stuff

Thank You, Thank You, Thank You.

Excellent tutorial, very clear and concise.

It was like being at your shop while you taught something.

luvsite1

Thank you kindly sir, I tried to show as much as possible.

 

[Rusty McDonald]

Very detailed and a great tutorial! Blades were nice to look at as well, When are you testing for JS?

 

[ChipI.]

Great info here. thanks!!

 

[jryan76]

Awesome Tutorial! Thank you!

 

[ziozeb]

Fantastic Tutorial!
Regard
Denis

 

[StephanFowler]

finished knives

 

[JAWilliams]

They look so go Stephan. Thanks for taking us through all the steps.

 

[Eric Draven]

Thats AWESOME!!!

So can I use D2 for Hamons? I have Satanite, I have 1095,1075, and D2 on hand and I have PCB. However I dont have a forge, all I have is a Paragon Digital HT oven.
Can a Hamon be done in a Digital oven or do you need a forge?

What is your mixing ratio for the Satanite? To do cool designs with the Satanite I was thinking of using a re-usable Cake Icing decorator tube. You know the tubes I am talking about? You fill them up from the top and then squeeze the icing(Or Satanite) on the cake(Or blade) and they have a ton of different tips to get various effects. Just a crazy thought.

 

[StephanFowler]

Thats AWESOME!!!

So can I use D2 for Hamons? I have Satanite, I have 1095,1075, and D2 on hand and I have PCB. However I dont have a forge, all I have is a Paragon Digital HT oven.
Can a Hamon be done in a Digital oven or do you need a forge?

What is your mixing ratio for the Satanite? To do cool designs with the Satanite I was thinking of using a re-usable Cake Icing decorator tube. You know the tubes I am talking about? You fill them up from the top and then squeeze the icing(Or Satanite) on the cake(Or blade) and they have a ton of different tips to get various effects. Just a crazy thought.

I've not heard of anyone doing Hamon on D2, my gut says it can't be done, but I'm smart enough to not say it's impossible.

1095 and 1075 will do VERY nicely
Digital ovens make it a ton easier, no guessing at temps, no hot/cold spots etc. for 1095 I would soak at 1425 for about 5 minutes and quench. I've not worked with 1075 personally but the same temp and soak should get you a good starting point

I mix straight satanite and water to a thick yogurt but not quite sour cream consistency. and I know of several people that use piping bags (the cake decorating deal your talking about) to lay out hamon.



the coolest thing about Hamon is every little thing effects the outcome
the damn frustrating thing about Hamon is every little thing effects the outcome.

but generally speaking as long as you don't overheat the blade you WILL get hamon, even if it's just from the cross section change from edge to spine.
the clay really just provides a little bit of a temperature buffer if you will and allows you to influence patterns

 

[burchtree]

That's a lot o' polishing!

 

[StephanFowler]

That's a lot o' polishing!

Actually it's not to bad, i've gotten to the point where a big bowie like that only takes me about and hour to hand polish.

it all depends on how nice the finish is coming off the grinder.

 

[elkinsknives]

That's the best tutorial on hamons I have ever seen. Thanks!

 

[Driften]

1075, 1095, W1, W2 all do really well, 1084 is a little picky, O1 and 5160 are technically possible but a real bear.

How does 1080 do for a Hamon? Is it picky like 1084? I hear the formulation of 1095 varies a lot and can cause quality issues. Is there a good source of W1/W2 in stock removal sizes? Others have said that W1/W2/1095 give the best results followed up by 1075/1080/1084 is that also your experience?

Thanks! This was a VERY good tutorial.

 

[BRad704]

Holy Thread Revival Batman! haha....

I was just thinking about this the other day, and I'm a bit discouraged to hear that 5160 is such a pain... That's the only material I have right now, and since I have a basically free source for it, I don't have much reason to change yet.

GREAT tutorial though!

 

[GSC]

Thanks Stephan for the great pic's
Gordon

 

[StephanFowler]

Check with Aldo, his 1095 is the cleanest I've ever worked with and I've never had any issues with it.

1075 and 1080 tend to do pretty well for hamon because they have less manganese
it's all the Manganese in 1084 that makes it a little finicky for getting a Hamon, BUT it's also the manganese in 1084 that makes it etch nice and dark when used in damascus

 

[Erin Burke]

How does 1080 do for a Hamon? Is it picky like 1084?

1080 will easily give you a nice simple hamon... though in my experience, you cannot get the same crazy activity that you can get from 1095 or W2. I have not worked with 1084.

Is there a good source of W1/W2 in stock removal sizes?

I'm not sure what sizes of W2 Aldo is offering these days... you may want to check. A year ago, the only way I was able to get a supplly of W2 bar suitable for stock removal was to buy some of Don Hanson's bar, then ship it to Michael Pikula to have it forged down. It is really nice stuff, but unlike the 1080 & 1095 that I get from Kelly Cupples, it definitely needs to be normalized and annealed prior to working.

Erin

 

[Driften]

Thanks for the education! It seems like there is a order from Aldo or Kelly in my future for 1095.

 

[murphda2]

Aldo can deffinately hook you up with the 1084 and 1095. The 1084 he carries is 1.5"x0.25" which is suitable for forging or stock removal. He has 1095 in all kinds of sizes for either stock removal or forging. Heck he even has it at 1.5"x 3/8 (sorry, too lazy to do the conversion).

Thank you guys for bringing this thread back up. I have to hand it to Stephan, this is my all time favorite tutorial and an absolutely awesome reference for anyone wanting to do a hamon on a blade. Stephan is deffinately on top of his game on this subject.

 

[StephanFowler]

i'm hesitant to say this but I really need to.

I have bought a LOT of steel from Kelly over the years and he is an EXCELLENT guy

however, the 3/16 1095 I have gotten from him in the past had weird little squiggly lines in it when HT'd and polished, i tried a bunch of different things to get a good clean finish but with no success.
as far as I could tell it was only the 1095 that had this issue and it could have been from an old batch. thus possibly no longer an issue.

his 1084 has always been excellent.