First Hamons

[Momatt]

This is my first hamon.  1095 steel. After forging and grinding with 60 grit I normalized then dipped in anti scale and applied furnace cement.  Brought it to critical and quenched in hot veggie oil.  Tempered in oven at 400 for an hour.  Cement stayed on good, actually kind of hard to get off.   I hit it with a 120, 220, and 320. Couldn't wait stuck it in hot vinegar.  I'm pleased, should be a cool blade.  

[Robakyo]

Looks good. I haven't achieved such a dramatic hamon. I was impatient and accelerated the drying time of my furnace cement with a hair dryer. I quenched it in water and most of the cement seemed to just explode off of the blade. The hamon was faint.

 

[Momatt]

Robakyo- The furnace cement I used came from home depot in a caulk tube and only costs 2 bucks.  I squirted the tube into a mason jar, should do many many blades. I didn't let it dry for more than an hour before I stuck it in the forge.  I think that maybe the reason the furnance cement stuck well is because of the anti scale compound I put on first.  I bought it from Brownells its called ATS something or other.  The water quench you used may have been harder on the clay than the oil I used.  Were you using a water quench steel like W-1 or W-2?   

[Robakyo]

It was an unknown steel. It responded better to water. Using the quench test in oil, it bent before finally snapping. Lower carbon. The water quench was kind of scary. The blade literally screamed. 

Oil is so much nicer. There is a window of opportunity to straighten out a minor warp if necessary.

[Momatt]

Finished knife