bowie with clay heat treat

[kevin (the professor)]

Greetings Everyone,

This is a bowie of 1095 with walnut handle and clay ht.
6.5" blade,
1/8" thick at ricasso, with slight taper

I am happy about this one, it is the first time I did the differential temper thing with clay. It came out better than I expected.

The clay I used came from a little "home cooking." (I made the mixture myself)

The clay came from unscented, bargain basement kitty litter.
1 part kitty litter
1 part crushed brick
1 part wood as and sugar (yep - sugar, mostly carbon, sticky when wet or melted, actually grows when burned)

Seeing the diff heat treat reminded me of how magical steel really is.

I have one major question: Will someone more experienced with this sort of thing give me some advice about how to polish to accentuate the ht line? (many of the housecats owned by you guys have more experience with this than me).

Thanks for looking. Advice, comments, ect. are encouraged!

Take care,

Kevin

[Messerist]

great looking bowie! Sorry I can't help you with the polishing question but I have noticed that when I do a final sanding on my blades, which are differentially heat treated, the harder edge polishes up more than the softer spine. I only finish to a 400 grit wet/dry. Once again I think you have a beauty of a blade there.

[markb]

Doing good Kevin, your clay mix worked really well.

[chuckster2.0]

I don't have much experience but I would try buffing it. I also would call the Ht line the Hamon