Zach Wade

This is the first clay coat, the one that broke of in the forge, the second is similar but not the same

So basically streaks of hardened/ unhardened steel going straight across?

Ok so I have taken this back to 120 grit and sanded it a lot. But the "scratches" that got me to resand it are still there. I started looking into possible causes and found alloy banding, I don't think they are going away. They are only on the hamon line (habuchi?) Which I thought was weird to start. Does that look to anyone else like Alloy banding is a possibility? I've seen some others that look a little similar, wanted a second opinion before I gave up on getting rid of them and started moving back up the grit progressions. Aldos 1075, stock removal, triple normalized by eye, then one additional "normalization" where the clay broke off in the forge, then quenched in parks with satanite on it.

It is not strictly speaking necessary, however as I am learning they can make your life a lot easier when trying to get the blade mounted with a guard without gaps. And I would say both forging and grinding, some people can forge it very close to shape. Wish I had asked that question before I started the knife I'm working on

Thanks everyone. Saw all those warnings on the bottle and it got me a little sketched out about using it with windex

I know. That's why I was hesitant to use windex to wash off FeCl etchant, many formulations contain ammonia, that's why I decided to use baking soda. I know people use Windex for that but it sounds like what might be a bad idea, might release chemicals in small amounts that are harmful that you don't even notice. However after a little research I believe that it will form a salt(ammonium chloride)which will only release gaseous hcl at high temps, still don't really wanna mess with it.

Thanks. Unfortunately That's about as good as it will get until I restart it I believe. Just forced myself to put 220 scratches on it, gonna redo it over the next few days...

Dunno what happens when you use Windex but the stuff does have a specific warning about nasty fumes and ammonia. Possibly just a standard warning put on all chemicals, dunno. I wouldn't think it would make chlorine gas but my chemistry is rusty There's the knife with the blurry hamon

I have access to a smaller saw like that, i wanna say 7". How does the smaller tine do? I'm pretty sure if I look hard enough I can dig one of those up from the skid steer

Mmm not sure the bandsaw will work, hmm the circular saw probably will though, I'd just have to make a cut on each side for the cut. Gonna have to think about that.

The thing is HEAVY. If I did my math right it should weigh about 275 lbs with all that standing under the face. (3x9x36x.284) haven't decided exactly how tall I wanna cut it to but it's somewhere in that range.

Gonna have a roughly 12" block left over on the end with the eye, dunno if having the eye might be useful for something but I'm not making 3 cuts lol. I can build something around it with 7x9 blocks pretty easily. Won't add anything underneath it just around it to keep it straight up and down. Think about halfway up the length of it should be sufficient?

Found this laying in the yard at work. 3x9x48 forklift tine. I'm thinking cut it to size with a portable bandsaw and try to keep it cool. Then stand it up straight (probably gonna need some help for that) and mount it in a 5 gallon bucket filled with cement. Think that will be stable enough? Anyone see any problems with this plan other that that it's gonna take forever to cut and be a pain to move?

Ok thanks didn't know if there was anything weird I needed to know. Don't drink it, gotcha.

Ok so I have a blade that I will be etching soon, again, been etching, gotta resand, some low grit scratches running right along the hamon obscuring it that didnt show up til i run a test etch at 600 grit, but that's not the point. So when I get it back to 1 or 2k I am planning on running a few ferric chloride etches before I switch to alternating lemon juice and vinegar. Anything that I need to know that I haven't found? Not a whole lot on storage and handling precautions Obviously gloves and safety glasses. Can I rinse it down the drain safely? I believe so. Sounds like people neutralize with Windex and rinse down the drain. Any well marked plastic bottle fine for storing the diluted solution or should I use glass? It came in a plastic bottle so obviously some plastics are okay. I believe I've used the stuff before but that was many years ago in a sink designed for making circuit boards. If this is the wrong place for this please move it to the shop safety section.