SonnyDuong 0 Posted October 22, 2011 Share Posted October 22, 2011 so i have this blade here, that i forged and ground, its made from a nicholson file ,which i believe is W1 if im not mistaken? i would like to try to get a hamon on this one, and im wondering if a hamon will take in an oil quench. im not opposed to a water quench, ive just never done it before. i plan on doing a double maybe tripple normalize and then a single quench. any tips? do you guys usually put an edge on it after or before hardening? just wondering. thanks for looking. Link to post Share on other sites
Alan Longmire 2,741 Posted October 22, 2011 Share Posted October 22, 2011 Your grinding is coming along nicely! I can't help much with the hamon question, but I can tell you not to sharpen it before hardening, and yes, oil will give you some hamon. Beyond that, someone else will have to help. There's a LOT of information about that around here, you can find it if you look carefully. Link to post Share on other sites
Mike Blue 1 Posted October 22, 2011 Share Posted October 22, 2011 If the steel is W1, the best hamon will come from water not oil. An oil quench will take out some of the sori you have in the blade already (it will nose down). For that length of blade, a water quench will cause more sori (curve). Oil quench hardening lines are also generally more "muddy" than a line that develops from a water quench. Go with water. Who dares, wins. If not, you can always make another blade. Link to post Share on other sites
kyle o'donnell 0 Posted October 22, 2011 Share Posted October 22, 2011 depends on the kind of hamon you want. if you are looking for effective instead of looky. then oil is just fine. i seem to be having trouble lately not getting a hamon Link to post Share on other sites
SonnyDuong 0 Posted October 22, 2011 Author Share Posted October 22, 2011 Thanks for the replies. I read that as long as you keep the back of the spine you will ft less of a spring in a water quench. Hoping this is true haha. I shall tread the rough waters and proceeded with a water quench. Is it reccomended to do a strait down quench for water? Or the horrizontal? I've only heat treated 2 blades thus far both in oil Link to post Share on other sites
Pat B 1 Posted October 22, 2011 Share Posted October 22, 2011 I tend to do edge down into the water when I want to do hamon. my logic behind it is I want to cool the part of the blade that will be getting the hamon all at the same time. Link to post Share on other sites
justin carnecchia 67 Posted October 22, 2011 Share Posted October 22, 2011 The blade is looking nice. While it is true that water will produce a showier hamon, you will also crack more blades. That being said there are some guys getting spectacular hamons just in oil, with out the heart ache of water. Personally I started in water and cracked lots of blades, then tried oil with pretty good results. My last few knives I have come to a compramise and I quench three seconds in water then quick into oil. I am most happy with this method and am getting good activity and haven't cracked one yet. Good luck and get some pics up when she's done. -Justin Link to post Share on other sites
sandpile 0 Posted October 22, 2011 Share Posted October 22, 2011 SONNY-- I hope this is not too late being on a Saturday. On the question of how much edge. I take mine down to a thin quarter or dime edge then do my heat treatment. A guess on the steel might be W1 or 1095. Needs to be thin enough to harden all the way through. A quick count of four or five straight down in water then into warm oil.(less breakage) With a nice jacket of dried mud to get your hamon. A ping/click is a sad noise for a heat treater. You can get a nice hardening line without the mud if you edge quench in oil. Just use a torch to color the bottom third of you blade. Good luck chuck Link to post Share on other sites
SonnyDuong 0 Posted October 23, 2011 Author Share Posted October 23, 2011 (edited) how do you guys usually temper blades with a diffrential harden like this? torch temper or oven? im going to quench it either tonight or tomorow. i know how to temper but i never put enough thought into how tempering affected the hamon... Edited October 23, 2011 by SonnyDuong Link to post Share on other sites
justin carnecchia 67 Posted October 24, 2011 Share Posted October 24, 2011 Sonny, I would temper in an oven(use a thermometer, don't trust the ovens temp dial), and get it in as soon as it is cool. While it is less of an issue with a knife than a sword the tension in the steel from the quench can crack the blade just sitting there. I have'nt had it happen quenching in oil when the blade is curving toward the edge but in water when it curves toward the spine I have had a couple crack several hours after quenching. The same with using a torch. Personally I don't think it heats the blade evenly enough, and I've had a couple crack that way too. What have you decided about a quenching medium and what are you using for clay? -Justin Link to post Share on other sites
SonnyDuong 0 Posted October 25, 2011 Author Share Posted October 25, 2011 ive decided to do a 3 second warm water quench, and then into conola oil. i was going to use a thing layer of pre mixed refractory clay, after i normalized it twice. and thanks for the tip about right after it cools, something you wouldnt usually know until it happens to you. im going to try to do this tomorow night, as work has gotten in the way. Link to post Share on other sites
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