Hamon hardly visible, what to do to make it more prominent?

My musashi is very clearly a real hamon. I have done quite a bit of cutting with it, and vinegar etched it once. The hamon never faded at all. It also has a very nice, very translucent look to it.

it did take me a little work to make the hamon stand out with vinegar... i polished it with a strop with .05 micron paste... i don't think even 3k grit sandpaper would have done the job.
 
Thanks, vinegar is effective, but on my blade, it takes time and patience on dipping the blade and wiping it off and again....
 
A hamon actually has a depth to how far it punctures steel this is partially based also on the medium used to heat, soak time as well as layering of the clay and its compisition, its also possible to have more then one hamon on the same blade. Its possible to make a hamon so shallow that it grinds off but the steel will still be differentially treated.



A fake hamon can also be made without a clay quench by having a thin lamination of a second steel on the outside and the material is ground away and stamped. this can be a high chrome stainless, or a very soft steel or 15n20 or even a chrome plating. A quench will change the color of the blade edge, or a light etch will cause a pattern.

Its not a hamon persay and polishing will destroy it, its common on cheap swords however a san mai line grind line can cause a second hamon and this is not a cheap feature, some steels in the laminations will also not etch based on the grain structure and elemental composition, if a lamination has under 200 layers on the side and the layers form a thick pattern polishing will expose non hamon steel.

Mostly it matters how a blade is heat treated though, standard soak it for a time and dunk it produces shallow.
 
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So the deal.isnt that 1060 is a bad steel its a matter how the blade is made european blades had an average of .6 carbon for a long time, difference is they are differentially heat treated by heating the tang and letting the temper crawl to the tip, as well they were hardened to an average of 40 -55 rhc not 60. Mono spring steel at 60rhc with a spring temper makes it brittle.

So why rhc 60? The answer is because cheap ass stainless steel used in kitchen knives has an air hardening rhc 60. Which is why its the standard. Katanas typically had 57 to 60, ww2 gunto had 62 but always has a soft core being kobuse. If it has side plates it functions much the same when done proper but it has to be .4 or lower to work, just on the edge of quenchability or not at all.

Modern production blades just simply arnt made from the correct steel and are given knife heat treatments which is all wrong but you have to spend big money to get barely acceptable or buy a relic
 
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Stop being an effin idiot and show your forge pictures, as today is a forge day for you. Stick to your kobuse thread and folk might actually read your stuff. As it is now, you will end up in a lot of kill files and simply be ignored. You really don't know what you are writing about.
 
Joseph Gardner said:
Horse If you're going to comment, do some research, become a smith, become a knife maker, but you do not have the qualifications to comment on anything metal other then stamps.

This article is from the Oakshot Institute.
https://myarmoury.com/feature_bladehardness.html
Click to expand...

I'm not sure you're qualified to do anything more than what you've been doing, which is to say shooting salad and making virtually no sense, while making passive-aggressive digs on the quality of virtually every piece of sword metal that wasn't beaten on by your homie who swings the sledge hammer for you.

KWJsPyM.gif
 
No doubt the article link found in one of my posts, here or elsewhere. Since he is just looking for attention, it is much easier to ignore him. The unfortunate truth is that his rambling is otherwise disruptive and leading to more misinformation. Enough was enough a month ago. My posting in the sabre thread "How So?", my first mistake in replying to him in the first place.

One old adage reads
“Never argue with a fool, onlookers may not be able to tell the difference.”
~Samuel Clemens~
 
It is however my opinion that you should be able to take a sword to anything, and anyone at any time, further more you should be able to cave someones skull in with the pommel and regardless of how many blows it takes to make that happen, the handle shouldn't rattle afterwards.

Modern production blades are "handle with care and dont chop a tree" Sorry mates you bought a sword, you should get A SWORD.

5160 at Rhc 50? with a temper change running down the blade? PERFECT. 1095 with lowered manganese content to make it stiff at RHC 60 knife heat treat is a Piece of shit, and further more you might pay 200-500 for it, which makes them a piece of shit for ripping you off. You wanted a sword, what you got was; Don't use it or you might hurt yourself.

Anything S7? well now theres something you're going to have to TRY really hard to break.

This is for those of you with 1045 blades,

I really hate that people are spending what might be a whole weeks worth of hard earned money on a joke, and that the jokers keep making them without ever testing their own blades against real metal.
 
Joseph Gardner said:
It is however my opinion that you should be able to take a sword to anything, and anyone at any time, further more you should be able to cave someones skull in with the pommel and regardless of how many blows it takes to make that happen, the handle shouldn't rattle afterwards.

Modern production blades are "handle with care and dont chop a tree" Sorry mates you bought a sword, you should get A SWORD.

5160 at Rhc 50? with a temper change running down the blade? PERFECT. 1095 with lowered manganese content to make it stiff at RHC 60 knife heat treat is a Piece of shit, and further more you might pay 200-500 for it, which makes them a piece of shit for ripping you off. You wanted a sword, what you got was; Don't use it or you might hurt yourself.

Anything S7? well now theres something you're going to have to TRY really hard to break.

This is for those of you with 1045 blades,

I really hate that people are spending what might be a whole weeks worth of hard earned money on a joke, and that the jokers keep making them without ever testing their own blades against real metal.
Click to expand...


Looks like we got ourselves another illustrious graduate from Youtube University. :rolleyes:
 
Guys, this Joseph Gardner needs to be COMPLETELY ignored. Everything that comes out of his mouth is absolute nonsense, with an attitude of a know-it-all. I can't believe he still has the audacity to post on this forum after he has shown the complete ignorance and stupidity he is capable of. A person can go through every single sentence this guy posts and pick it apart, piece by piece. The sad thing is....he doesn't seem to care. He is his own fanboy. It's amazing the stuff that isn't allowed on this forum....and even more amazing some of the stuff that IS allowed.

Joseph.....SHUT UP!!! You have NO CLUE as to what you are talking about.
 
Im beginning to think whine and cheese is all this forum has to offer other then company reviews. It just seems to creep out of its playpen.
 
Yes, a forum with tens of thousands of contributors spanning two decades has nothing to offer.

In full disclosure, I find the sword discussion forum to sometimes be a terse place with a few vapid characters who argue over terminology and nomenclature with a blind righteousness while developing a mild high of smugness by inhaling their own self important farts. But that, truthfully, tends be a constant attribute of a lot of sword centric forums.

I certainly don't mean most of the folks in here by any means. There is some real talent in here, and some very nice and well respected members to glean from. I know my formal knowledge of swords is very limited even after 30 years of collecting, and I truly enjoy learning what I can. I just steer clear of the more acidic posters and their topics.

That said, you get out of any forum what you put in. I have a saying I like to use over at the HI board, "Check your muddy boots at the door". When you barge in and stomp dirt clods all over the carpet, don't be too surprised if that upsets a few people.
 
I really doubt a single non function knife comes from this website. but when it comes to something like a sword its an entirely different story, you are talking about something that has the requirement is to be able to slam it on other hardened steels, the craft and the makers do not live up to the requirements, which is strange considering that when it comes to a knife, the members hold quality to the highest but go the complete opposite direction to a sword.
 
But only you have the expertise to get the swordsmiths here up to an acceptable standard.
Go away.
Quickly.
 
a three thousand year old creation process done and modified to make it work, it doesnt just come out nowhere or get invented. I just attacked the inaccuracies as to why something is NOT working. it is not my intention to attack the person as a practice is often changed and modified. Though thats how ya'al in the whine and cheese forum take it following my every move like sports commentators, You are my biggest fans.

But whats really irksome is there is no counter information on metal given just "waaaah my feelings and youre wrong" but how though? not seeing any facts given to any contrary, no citings no data. Iv used this site plenty of times to look up a new metal to play with and gotten good results on heat treatment so wheres the REST of it.

The art defines us.
 
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michael t said:
Then how do the get away using words like Battle ready. I never fought a pool noodle are they battle ready also.
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In the sword world battle ready just means sharpened.

Also, even in real life swords were rarely bashed against things that would resemble 2x4s, and despite what you see in movies they also were not bashed into plate mail and chainmail and such.
 
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