RainsFire Posted December 26, 2007 Share Posted December 26, 2007 finally I can post a thread saying I've had my first bit of success at achieving a hamon/temper line.. thanks to a certain Iforgeiron member (Sandpile) and his generosity, I had some good 1084 steel to experiment with. around my 5th try and 3rd knife attempt (about 3-4 tries each knife) my fathers farrier friend came over and we talked about heats of steel.. He casually mentioned that he doesn't see cherry red, and neither do I!! that got me to thinking, I might just be heating the blade to to cool because "cherry red" looks almost candy corn oarnge to me... so after hearing oarnge is to hot to heat a blade, I always avoided going that hot.. I had been bringing it just up to past magnetic.. but aparently I was moving to slow to the quench tank after coming from the magnet.. so ya, I compensated and got my first success on a cool little shipwright knife I'm making for another of our friends.. I'll post some pictures once I find some finer grit sand paper, and figure out how to capture such a faint little detail on film.. thanks to ya'll for your help! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Feukair Posted December 29, 2007 Share Posted December 29, 2007 Hi RainsFire, good to hear you finally got a hamon. After the first once over with sandpaper you can put the blade in some hot vinegar for about 5 minutes to make the hamon appear. That will make it easier to photograph as well. I use tin foil to make a shallow dish the length of the blade, heat up a small amount of white vinegar (enough to cover the blade) in the microwave for 2 minutes, then pour it over the blade. You can actually watch the softer steel in the blade darken before your eyes, the harder steal stays a lighter color. Take it out, rinse it with hot water and wipe it dry with paper towel and photograph. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RainsFire Posted December 29, 2007 Author Share Posted December 29, 2007 cool, what should I sand it to first? is 400 grit enough? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Feukair Posted December 30, 2007 Share Posted December 30, 2007 That depends on what youve done to it already. I used a 250 grit waterstone after quenching. But prior to the quench i used a hand file to shape the blade so it was already pretty well shaped. Either way is should hurt it to use 400 if thats what you have, then try a rougher grit if you need more cutting power. Send pics soon! I cant wait to see it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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