Aldo's W-2 Hamon problem

jdm61 said:
I you can't see a vague outline of the hamon right out of the quench, it probably isn't going to look very good when finished.
Click to expand...

Yeah. At least the difference in decarb. Like this:
20180513_130911.jpg

So, one other thing Tom. When I'm done thermal cycling I clean the blade to 120 past any decarb the cycling created. Then clay and quench. Because of that, I always see a difference like the picture above since the clay is protecting what's under it from oxygen. That's not however necessarily indicative of the resulting hamon. That blade looked like this at 80 grit:

20180513_132927.jpg


And then 400 grit off the disc:

20180513_134612.jpg
 
OK, following some advice I made another blade. It is 21" overall. I covered the blade with a thin layer of satanite, then heated to 1650 for 20 minutes and let it air cool. Then 1550 for 10 minutes and air cool, then 1450 for ten minutes and air cool.
Then I recoated the blade with a thin coat of satanite and put some thicker satanite on the middle of the blade.
qWa8kre.jpg

IwIH9gp.jpg

After that dried, I brought up to 1460 for ten minutes and quenched in Parks 50. The blade did not get hard. I then knocked off the satanite, cranked up my torch, heated to above critical and quenched in Parks 50. It got hard. After a couple of etches and polishes it looks like this.
8ElRxs5.jpg


Any comments or suggestions?
 
Your wash layer was too thick. I don’t use one anymore. It should be water thin, not toothpaste thick.
 
godogs57 said:
I’m totally not understanding why so many heat cycles. I use Don Hansen’s recipie (1450 5-10 min, quench in Parks, temper 1 hr @ 450) and things turn out just fine.

???
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If it’s aldo’s Stock, it needs normalizing/thermal cycling to break up the course spheroidizing.
 
Tom Lewis said:
OK, following some advice I made another blade. It is 21" overall. I covered the blade with a thin layer of satanite, then heated to 1650 for 20 minutes and let it air cool. Then 1550 for 10 minutes and air cool, then 1450 for ten minutes and air cool.
Then I recoated the blade with a thin coat of satanite and put some thicker satanite on the middle of the blade.
qWa8kre.jpg

IwIH9gp.jpg

After that dried, I brought up to 1460 for ten minutes and quenched in Parks 50. The blade did not get hard. I then knocked off the satanite, cranked up my torch, heated to above critical and quenched in Parks 50. It got hard. After a couple of etches and polishes it looks like this.
8ElRxs5.jpg


Any comments or suggestions?
Click to expand...
Looks real good! From the photos, your clay is still too thick and even. Edge looks too thick also.
 
Thanks, Willie, Josh, Kuraki, and Don for your comments and suggestions. I have learned a lot from all of this. Don, how thin should the cutting edge be when it is quenched. I have left mine maybe 3/16 " thick. Should I make it thinner?
I may make another one today. No wash layer, thinner uneven clay, and maybe a thinner edge.
Thanks again.
 
1/16" is where I try to be, roughly. You can go thinner even but 1/16" is pretty safe and not much work to grind after the fact. And I'm happy to help Tom, you've been very helpful to me regarding san mai and welding!
 
3/16", Tom I will assume that's a typo?
I like to be around .040" edge thickness on larger blades and thinner on smaller blades.
 
Thanks, Kuraki, and Don. Don, on the large knife out of 1/4" steel I did leave the cutting edge maybe 3/16" to 1/8" before heat treat. After heat treat I grind the edge very thin. I didn't know how thin to go to prevent warping.
Thanks for the suggestions and help.
Kuraki, glad to be of help with the San Mai.
 
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