Hi ! 

I am new here and I am trying to get answers from internet without success...

what oil should I use to quench 1084 and 1094 steel 

( I am making hamons on the blade )

 

 

Parks 50 is the standard.

Best of luck getting a hamon with 1084.  I've been trying to do that periodically with no appreciable success so far.  If you get a process that works reliably please post it along with photos of the results, I'd love to get that working.

Is this some of the low manganese 1084 from the NJSB?  Might have better luck with it as you need a shallow hardening steel to get the best hamons.

Yes I got the 1084 from the NJSB, but am not certain if it is low manganese or not.  Just bought it off the back of his truck, and didn't know to ask.  I'll try again on my next quench, have a couple of blades approaching that time.  I assume you clay coat with Satinite after initial polish to 600 grit, thin wash up to edge proximity, then thicker trails for the "activity"?  Can I get away with quench in heated canola, as I do with normal heat treatment, or do I need to get some faster oil?

Actually my best success with differential heat treatment was way back in '79 when I was taking a Materials Science class from a very creative professor during intersession.  We used premade knife blanks, so I have no idea what steel they were, but did the full polish, clay coat and water quench.  The 10" blades hardened extremely well, and bent up just like Japanese swords (I know there is a technical term for that (sori?), but can't recall it just now).  I don't remember tempering these at all, but expect they must have auto-tempered to some extent as I still have two of them and have used one quite a bit over the years with no chipping.  Wish I had kept with it instead of taking 35 years off, might be a decent bladesmith by now...

Knowing what you got is the first step.   You can always try it and see.  Worst that happens is you got a knife!.  Sori is the correct term for the curve; there is probably a dozen terms that I don't know for getting it there...

I read somewhere that to get the sori you add clay to the spine as well and that will cause it to curve toward the spine.  If you do not want the sori then do not clay the spine?  Thomas do you know if that is true.  To the original poster I have not done many hamons and none with 1084 but even at my experience level I have had very good luck with 1095.  

Hamons and Sori depend greatly on your steel and your quenchant---some alloys/quenchants will give reverse sori (oil can do this)  A lot of traditional japanese blade "mechanics" are based on using a very shallow hardening steel without a lot of the stuff we consider a given in most modern steels, (like MN added to deal with S in the blast furnace smelting process; S not a problem in a charcoal fired bloomery steel...)