ryanwrath Posted September 3, 2012 Share Posted September 3, 2012 i have a ridonkulous bowie knife ordered. the blade will be 12 roughly long and 2 inches wide. I am curious if anyone out there would be willing to heat treat it and polish it with a hamon....hoping for one of the wildy active hamons.....the blade is out of aldos 1095. a PM would be great, that way i can see replies easier...payment options... its not a museum piece, however modest sums would be ok or trades(this statement is not intended to detract from quality of workmanship, just a reality check). please be ready to show past work (many of you i have seen your work, and it would do beautifully; in fact some of it i would not sell ehe). anyway just putting "feelers" out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steven Gillespie Posted September 3, 2012 Share Posted September 3, 2012 i have a ridonkulous bowie knife ordered. the blade will be 12 roughly long and 2 inches wide. I am curious if anyone out there would be willing to heat treat it and polish it with a hamon....hoping for one of the wildy active hamons.....the blade is out of aldos 1095. a PM would be great, that way i can see replies easier...payment options... its not a museum piece, however modest sums would be ok or trades(this statement is not intended to detract from quality of workmanship, just a reality check). please be ready to show past work (many of you i have seen your work, and it would do beautifully; in fact some of it i would not sell ehe). anyway just putting "feelers" out. why not heat treat yourself? creating a hamon on 1095 and polishing is not difficult, just time consuming. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanwrath Posted September 3, 2012 Author Share Posted September 3, 2012 i do have the knowledge to create a hamon. however im not practiced in it. and i didnt really want to refine my art on this piece if you get my drift hehe...its just such a wide body knife i thought some of the hamon artists out there would love to put thier stamp on it since it is literally going to be put on a shelf and looked at....if no one jumps, im just going to go with fossilized ivroy handle ns or ss furniture and call it a day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steven Gillespie Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 (edited) id heat treat it, but i dont usually keep pictures around of past work. especially since most of them got wiped out with my last computer(pictures that is). but its up to you. making a hamon is easy, and if its made right, you cant possibly crack the blade. on a 12 inch blade, you can keep the clay thin on the spine, and put more ashi on the edge to prevent alot of stress, but its so small of a blade, i wouldnt worry. The more you think of something going wrong, the more likely it is to happen.I only have problems with W2 probably because im used to 1075 and W1, and i was getting into a hurry that week to beat the rain. can you upload a picture, it might entice a few more to check it out as well. Edited September 4, 2012 by Steven Gillespie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doug Lester Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 (edited) Here's my recommendation. Make a quick test knife and work out your hamon making procedure (it's really not as hard as some make it out to be) before you start the bowie or politely admit to the person who ordered the knife that you haven't done hamons before and you will have to decline the order at this time. Or you could just go for it and hope for the best. I've seen a lot of good hamons with Aldo's 1095 so I see no reason why it shouldn't work for you. I've had good luck with 9260 with an etchant but there may be a source problem here, as in there may no longer be one. At least not in the US in small quantities. I've also seen pictures of a knife that the maker claimed was 5160 that had a hamon produced by clay quenching, even though the common knowledge says that it can't be done. However, the reason why we have incandescent light bulbs with tungsten wire filaments, as I've heard the story told, is that the man who built the prototype for Thomas Edison was a chemist not a metallurgist and he was unaware that you couldn't draw tungsten into a wire so he did it anyway. Doug Edited September 14, 2012 by Doug Lester HELP...I'm a twenty year old trapped in the body of an old man!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steven Gillespie Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 i do agree with Doug, making a hamon on your own is part of the craft, if it breaks, which isnt likely if you choose to use oil,then explain to the customer that the blade did not survive the quench and you are making a replacement, but on a a 12" blade, it will most like survive, even in cold water. Dont be intimidated by failure, or else youll be in a learning loop. If i crack a blade, i destroy it, look at the grain and start making another to replace it. Its all part of the craft, and we all face it everytime we make a blade. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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