Poor man's hamon attempt

leafspring

leafspring

Member
Hi all, just want to share my attempt on clays tempering.

i am always fascinated by knives with hamon.
I cant help trying to make it myself even with limited resources. I believe if there is a will then there is a way.

started with a piece of file, bought in nearby store, no marking or stamp.
cut, shaped and ground as a drop point and a clip point. They are 4" long tip to top of tang.
clay tempered with a handheld butane torch.
Clay mixture was just a pinch of desert sand, sticky dirt and white cement.

They were coming completed with repurposed material around my home.

here are the process:

the file stock
IMG_1442.jpg

Shaped and ground
IMG_1471.jpg

HT
IMG_1478.jpg

After quenched in canola oil
IMG_1482.jpg

Cleaned on natural stone to reveal hamon pattern
IMG_1487.jpg

Handsanded and soaked in coke
IMG_1488.jpg

Polished and handle attached
IMG_1501.jpg

Completed 2 knives from a single piece of cheap file
IMG_1499.jpg

Sorry for the long post. And your criticisms are most welcome.
 
Those look pretty dang good for low buck making. How well do they cut thin paper? What did you use for the spacers?
I am curious.
 
wall e said:
Those look pretty dang good for low buck making. How well do they cut thin paper? What did you use for the spacers?
I am curious. 
Click to expand...
Thanks... glad you like it.
I sharpened them with king 1000-4000stine and leather stropped. Hair shaving sharp.
the colorful spacers are jus plastic from atm card, broken toys and bucket lid.
 
Plastic totes work well too,5 gal buckets,boot leather,copper pipe cut an flattened, all depends on what you can find or have on hand.
I get some old oil,paint or most any color of bucket and just soak in dish soap water and clean with acetone before glue up.
 
Those look really good. You can tell you put a lot of time and energy into those knives. I like the coke etch( makes wonder what it is doing to your stomach). Looking forward to seeing more.
 
wall e said:
Plastic totes work well too,5 gal buckets,boot leather,copper pipe cut an flattened, all depends on what you can find or have on hand.
I get some old oil,paint or most any color of bucket and just soak in dish soap water and clean with acetone before glue up.
Click to expand...
amazing isn't it, many things around us can be repurposed and they turn out great. all we need is just a little creativity.


Tyshoots said:
Those look really good. You can tell you put a lot of time and energy into those knives. I like the coke etch( makes wonder what it is doing to your stomach). Looking forward to seeing more.
Click to expand...
Thanks for your compliment... those knife is still on the experiment phase on etching and polishing. I want to see the different result before using more serious steel like you do.
I dont drink coke, like coffee more :)
 
After reading J Doyle post on polishing hamon. I re etched my knife and rubbed with baking soda.
Got much better contrast.

IMG_1533.jpg

Thanks Mr Doyle
 
Wow. That hamon turned out good. Those knives look great. I may have to try getting a hamon on my next file knife.

Jake
 
Jellis11 said:
Wow! Very cool!!! Sorry if this is a stupid question, but would modeling clay work for this?
Click to expand...

Probably not. You need to keep out a very high heat source to create the hamon line. Just use any type of high temp. furnace cement. You can get it at Menard's, Lowes, etc.

Here is a couple of how-to's on the hamon creation that may help you.

DeMo

http://ryanwknives.blogspot.com/2013/01/my-personal-hamon-process.html

http://imageevent.com/paleoaleo/hamonbladetutorial
 
Thanks DeMo...I'm going to try this soon. I have some furnace cement I got when I built my propane forge....hopefully mine turns out as well as yours!
 
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