Claying for hamon

I

Ian Fifelski

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Oct 4, 2017
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528
I am making my first Bowie and I am being ambitious and want to try for a hamon.

It is 1084 steel so I know it won't pop like on w2 or 1095. I will be grateful for a subtle line.

My question is: How should I apply the clay? I am using rutland fireplace mortar and I’ve heard its better thick. But is there a pattern/shape that I should use? I have seen some with small strips going toward the edge and some with small slits put leaving gaps toward the spine.
I would just like a wavy line. Will the line appear the same shape as the line of clay? Or will it do its own thing even if I make the clay straight?

Thanks all
 
The barefoot boy said:
It is 1/4 thick and I will be heat treating it with my home made propane forge. After normalization heat to critical and quench in canola.
Click to expand...
With steel that thick I don’t even think you’re going to need clay. It will be hard to control the heat throughout without overheating the edge and tip. More than likely it’s going to auto hamon. Best to experiment and see what works for you.
 
Correct. There’s guys on here (bladeforums) that don’t even use clay and have some amazing hamon activity.
With 1/4” stock your edge and tip are going to heat and cool faster than your spine and tang. Unless you’re heating in a controlled forge or kiln which it sounds like you’re not.
One way you can control this a little better would be to heat the tang, then turn it around to do your edge.

Be careful though, it’s easy to get addicted once you get going!
 
Try 1/16” to MAX 1/8” clay. You won’t get much, if any Ashi, the whispy lightning bolts coming out of the clouds in the hamon, but you can get a distinct line. Don’t overheat the blade as it’ll wash out the hamon. I would make sure you remove stress risers (grinding marks) and do 3 seconds in brine, then finish in heated canola if you don’t have engineered fast oil like parks 50.
 
Josh Rider said:
Correct. There’s guys on here (bladeforums) that don’t even use clay and have some amazing hamon activity.
With 1/4” stock your edge and tip are going to heat and cool faster than your spine and tang. Unless you’re heating in a controlled forge or kiln which it sounds like you’re not.
One way you can control this a little better would be to heat the tang, then turn it around to do your edge.

Be careful though, it’s easy to get addicted once you get going!
Click to expand...
The barefoot boy said:
Auto hamon? So if I etched it after heat treating even without clay a line may show up?
Click to expand...


This is a clayless hamon. It was created by carefully controlling the temp of the steel, how long the steel was at temp, and the quench rate, with interruption. It’s a trial and error proposition. In 1095:

IMG_0765 by Wjkrywko, on Flickr

IMG_0767 by Wjkrywko, on Flickr

This is interrupted quench in W2:

IMG_5926 by Wjkrywko, on Flickr

You won’t get anything like this in 1084.

To be clear, I’ve got 20 crap blades for every one that looks like these.
 
I did this just by only dunking it in the oil up to the line. 1075 steel with a propane torch and canola. Sanded to 800 and hot vinegar etched. No clay or anything special really.

vhR64JL.jpg
 
Thanks for the help guys. I think I am going to go ahead with that. I would prefer the line a bit further in the blade than boy&hisdogs’ but that looks very nice.
 
The barefoot boy said:
Thanks for the help guys. I think I am going to go ahead with that. I would prefer the line a bit further in the blade than boy&hisdogs’ but that looks very nice.
Click to expand...

Shoot for the middle of the blade. Sometimes they go higher and lower, but the middle is usually a good place to show off all of the activity.
It’s easier said than done though. I have been doing knives for a few years now and decided to buy a kiln, not to do stainless or more exotic steels, but to get more consistent heat control with w2. It’s really a sickness so be careful!!:(:confused::eek::D
 
Josh Rider said:
Shoot for the middle of the blade. Sometimes they go higher and lower, but the middle is usually a good place to show off all of the activity.
It’s easier said than done though. I have been doing knives for a few years now and decided to buy a kiln, not to do stainless or more exotic steels, but to get more consistent heat control with w2. It’s really a sickness so be careful!!:(:confused::eek::D
Click to expand...

It’s a rabbit hole for sure. You have to squish your face just right, and pray to the steel gods who are quite finicky.
 
I just heat treated the bowie. I went a bit further into the oil than I wanted but not to big a problem.

What should I temper at? Right now its in the oven at 400* for an hour. Should I let it cool and go for another hour? It is 1/4 thick and probably about 75% of the blade was quenched.
 
Heat and quench the whole blade. if you are going to try and selective harden a big bowie then take a big step backwards and use a big rose bud torch tip on the blade and quench it. The mass of the spine might not let your edge cool at the right rate if you are only quenching the edge.
 
Well that is pretty much what I did. There is just a line from the plunge line to 2 or 3 inches along the spine showing where the quench stopped. And I submerged the whole blade after a few seconds of quenching the edge so the spine heat couldn't bleed into the edge.
 
I just etched the blade and got what I would call...a triple line hamon. It did an auto hamon at a really good spot and then two edge quench lines showed up. I am really happy with the auto hamon so I will continue to etch.

This is after a 10 min etch in warmed vinegar, blade was hand sanded to 800 grit. I will sand to 1000 before etching further as there are some scratch lines in the hamon. http://www.barefootblades.com/Bladeforums-example.html

What do you suggest for polishing? I have a couple different compounds and some people apply them to rags? I also have sandpaper up to 1500 grit. If I got some of the powdered pumice and rottenstone from lee valley how would I use it? Rags?
 
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