The Hamon Thread

When I first started doing this I did the same thing. The first thing one has to understand is that there are so many variables that following someone else's recipe verbatim may not achieve the exact same results, because often you can't follow it verbatim as seemingly incidental details are left out.

That said, to answer the question, you can use a less aggressive abrasive, or etch longer and harder, or polish the hardened and unhardened areas differently, or a combination of all three.

You also can't get there in one etch. You're sure to polish it all away trying to get the finish you want.

If you think about it, it's really a lot simpler than the 1000 variations of how to online imply. Etching forms oxides and changes surface finish. Polishing removes oxides and smooths out surface finish. Tweaking those two variables is all there really is to it after heat treat.

Try this, it's worked for me on stubborn blades.

Sand with a hard backer so you have truly flat bevels. Swish around in the ferric, then scrub it with some steel wool, swish around again and leave it for a few minutes.

It'll come out black, rinse, wipe off, then very lightly, with WD40 and your hard backer, sand the bevels for 5 or 10 strokes. You'll get like a black ink coming off and as soon as the majority of the black is gone stop, clean, repeat the etch.

Then polish. Doing this will preserve some of the crevices created in the first etch and deepen them in the second so they don't polish away as easily when you switch to your polish.
 
My latest. This guy I polished the hardened portion pretty hard, grazed the unhardened portion.

9JZiGXW.jpg

PHtFwaT.jpg

1MJzQl9.jpg

BBbClOk.jpg
 
That looks good kuraki. I'll try to selectively re-etch the unhardened portion of mine (don't want to cause any more pitting, if that's what it is, to the hardened area) and see what I can come up with.
 
I think you would be better off resanding the blade to remove the pits, but what you're saying might work. I've never tried.
 
I've already tried some light sanding with no luck, and with a fairly shallow etch on my makers mark, I'm leery of going any further with that approach.
 
Ah. You might try simichrome to disguise them a bit. Or a similar polish in a grease like carrier.
 
Hope it's okay to ask this here, is there any difference in using the polishing powders vs using Flitz? I ask because I'm using Flitz, but have noticed the etchant is pooling on the steel after Flitzing, and I'm using a couple drops of Dawn in the etchant as a surficant. Has anyone tried both to see if the powders act differently?
Thanks to all for this thread, good stuff here!
 
Flitz and simichrome and other similar polishes often have grease or other carriers meant to act as corrosion protection.

The blade needs to be cleaned of this before etching again. Hot dish soap water does pretty well for me.
 
Thanks kuraki, I'm probably not washing all of it off with the cold water I have been using in the shop then.
By the way, that's a beautiful knife!
 
Lemme see if I get this (and my apologies for being dense with regard to this), the differential ht line is permanent since we have created a situation with the clay where parts of the blade cool quicker than other areas, but the hamon is not a permanent part of the blade (it can be abraded away)?
 
Well, I suppose that depends on the exact definition of hamon. To my way of thinking, its there, whether you can see it or not. But to reveal it you must etch and polish. Polish too much, and it disappears from view, but etching again will bring it back. It's like good clean Damascus in that way. Freshly ground you may not even be able to tell it's damascus, but as soon as you etch it, you know. Grinding it back doesn't make it monosteel, even if it appears to be in that state.
 
The soft part is pearlite, and the hard part is martensite. Etching, polishing, sanding won't change the structures, just how much contrast we see in them/between them. The hamon is the transition between the two structures.

The different structures etch differently, but you can use traditional stones to bring out the contrast in the structures too. The hybrid polish is quite popular, a mild acid etch and powdered abrasive polish. Different acids etch different colours/textures, and different polishes interact with the etch differently. It's a rabbit hole of trial and error.
 
This is a general thread so this isn't a resurrection?

Willie71 Willie71 : How long do you soak in vinegar each time? Do you heat the vinegar?
I started again with the hamon on the bowie (yes still working on it... school has been keeping me busy) and I have some 0000 steel wool now. Can I use the wool to remove the oxides from etching and then polish with the 1500 grit abrasive powder when I am near done? Or should I use the wool to remove oxides and polish with the powder as well?
 
I soak in vinegar until I see the depth of itch I’m looking for. It’s hard to explain. I wait until the whole blade is covered in oxides, but I can still see the different structures. I don’t heat the vinegar.

I wash the blade with windex, then rinse with water. I don’t use steel wool, just the powdered abrasives. As the oxides polish off, the finer structures are revealed. I would think steel wool would shear too much off the surface, ruining the effect of the etch. I haven’t tried it though.
 
I know this is somewhat of an older thread but I'd like to keep conversations about it here.
Has there been any updates? Different techniques? kuraki kuraki most of you pics in the first page are not showing up. Your hamons as of late have been outstanding are you doing anything differently?
Question. When your polishing do you focus on the hardened or unhardend portion or both equally?
 
If anything I've simplified what I do. Most of the work is still up front in the HT and hand sanding. Most of the hamon you've seen from me lately have either been fast 10-15 second etches and polished with 1500 SC like this:

o9uswU1.jpg


Or "quick and dirty" a longer etch and polished clean with 3m cutting compound like this:

Mr4LHTA.jpg
 
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