# Honyaki bunka wip



## jwthaparc (Jul 4, 2022)

I've been polishing this thing about a million different ways, and I think I finally found something that I like. What do you guys think? 











Now I can finally get on to working on the handle. I'm thinking it will be make from this oak from a tree that fell in my backyard, then black linen micarta then brass then another piece of black linen micarta for the "ferrule". I'm just worried the brass could throw the balance off.


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## deltaplex (Jul 4, 2022)

I think the polish on it looks great. I personally prefer simpler handles, so I wouldn't make a 3-layer ferrule, but if that's your aesthetic, I'm sure it'll look real nice.


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## jwthaparc (Jul 4, 2022)

deltaplex said:


> I think the polish on it looks great. I personally prefer simpler handles, so I wouldn't make a 3-layer ferrule, but if that's your aesthetic, I'm sure it'll look real nice.


I might not. But I feel like the solid black and gold will keep it somewhat simple for a multilayer ferrule. I did a bit more colorful one on a petty a while back but i feel like it could stand it because the blade is so plain.


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## deltaplex (Jul 5, 2022)

The overall package on that does look very nice.


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## jwthaparc (Jul 5, 2022)

About to start the construction of the handle. If it throws off balance or doesn't look right, it's back to the drawing board.


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## jwthaparc (Jul 8, 2022)

Well made the handle, attached it. Just put the final coat of rub on poly on it. The wood is some kind of oak from a tree that was blown down in my yard last year. I think water oak. Black linen micarta, and brass ferrule. Before I put the handle together I burned in the tang in the wood. This stuff seemed to handle it well.

I'm feeling not great because I didn't wear my respirator while shaping it. I thought I could get away with it because it was outside. I was wrong about that one. I'll be more responsible in the future about wearing my ppe.









Now, for this I'm planning on making my first saya. So I'll be doing that, then do a final polish on the blade, and it should be done.


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## deltaplex (Jul 8, 2022)

It's a white oak though? How did you prep the fallen tree into a usable blank to protect against checking, etc?


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## jwthaparc (Jul 9, 2022)

deltaplex said:


> It's a white oak though? How did you prep the fallen tree into a usable blank to protect against checking, etc?


Cut it into relatively small pieces right away (at least the ones that were kept) and have just been letting it dry for a while. Then cut it down close to the shape for the handle, and let that sit for the last couple weeks before finally starting to shape it. 

I'm just going off of the leaves of the tree. I'm 90% sure its water oak.


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## jwthaparc (Jul 9, 2022)

So. I went to go start making the saya, or at least get the wood prepared for it. I take a piece that I had kept because it had an interesting look too it, and I thought it could possibly have some figuring to it or maybe some sort of burl like pattern.

Anyway I cut into it, and it looks to me like some kind of spalting. 









If only I had known. I would have made sure to keep any piece that I could find that looked remotely similar to this. It is also very figured compared to the rest of the wood I have too. I saw it had some kind of growth on it, so I thought it was going to be useless, and I would just have to cut around it. If only I had known what I was looking at. 

I'm wondering if I can do some kind of cactus juice stabilization without a vacuum chamber? I'll look onto it.


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## jwthaparc (Aug 21, 2022)

Ok I'm getting close. I mean really its pretty much how it's going to be in the end. I decided to change the handle. I had to take the other one off to deal with some scratches I couldn't get to properly with the old one on. So I decided I might as well use some wood to better match to the saya, since the handle is already off. I'll post some more pictures once it's truly done. Like I said though this is effectively the knife.


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## jwthaparc (Aug 21, 2022)

I would love some feedback if anyone has any. I mean, if you think the knife sucks, and it's the ugliest thing you've ever seen. Let me know. If that's truly how you feel I will appreciate the honesty.

In the future when doing differential hardening I will make the hamon higher on the blade than this one, but I'm still mostly happy with it. I was going for just a random type pattern and that seemed to work. I will play around with more symmetrical patterns and different stuff in the future.


Also on one of the pictures that's just a piece of dust near the tip. (Nope I looked again, that's just a reflection) Although there are some little tiny scratches here and there I mean tiny ones. , and those are the only reason I said it's not completely finished. I'll get those out, and after that it's done.


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## deltaplex (Aug 21, 2022)

It's hard to see the blade details with all the reflections and lighting going on in there.


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## MSicardCutlery (Aug 21, 2022)

FWIW active hamons are a huge PITA to get a good picture of. Video is much easier, out in the sun too if you can.


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## jwthaparc (Aug 21, 2022)

Yeah. That was really the biggest problem. I mentioned it on another forum, it's not easy getting it to show up in pictures. 

I was trying to get the details, but the angle that would show the it the best had the worst flares. So I chose to just get different shots that show different parts that you can't see because of the glare. 

I think softer lighting might help with glare. I'll see what I can do in the future. I'm about to take the handle off again, because I there was a couple little spots I want want to get to, and it's just going to drive me crazy if I didn't. The soft steel ln the top is honestly so much more delicate and picks up stray scratches if you look at it wrong. I'm used to working with cpm 10v, and stuff that you have to put your body weight into it to get 3m cubitron sandpaper to properly bite into it.


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## jwthaparc (Aug 21, 2022)

MSicardCutlery said:


> FWIW active hamons are a huge PITA to get a good picture of. Video is much easier, out in the sun too if you can.


I'll do a video after I take the handle off and polish it again. I hoped I wouldn't have to do ANOTHER polish. But at least it should be quick and easy this time, since I know exactly what I'm going to do to get the look.i want.


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## ian (Aug 21, 2022)

Personally, I think it’s gorgeous. The polish looks great, as does all the woodwork. Super nice. I’m not sure I’d buy a knife with that low-height super flat bunka shape, since I’m not sure what I’d want to use it for, but the work all looks excellent.


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## jwthaparc (Aug 21, 2022)

ian said:


> Personally, I think it’s gorgeous. The polish looks great, as does all the woodwork. Super nice. I’m not sure I’d buy a knife with that low-height super flat bunka shape, since I’m not sure what I’d want to use it for, but the work all looks excellent.


Yeah height is one thing I would definitely do differently in the future. I think I would need to start with a thicker piece of steel to forge the height I want.

What do you mean when you say flat?

Edit: ooooh. Ok. Yeah good point hmm. Maybe I can make a modification or two since I want to take off the handle and republish for the the billionth time anyway. I'm thinking how much curve I should add though? I think too much would just be kinda wierd with the bunka shape. It does have more curve than the pictures show, but yeah that's a good point.


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## jwthaparc (Aug 21, 2022)

I honestly think with the dimensions that this ended up being it's more a kind or tall petty.


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## ian (Aug 21, 2022)

jwthaparc said:


> I'm thinking how much curve I should add though? I think too much would just be kinda wierd with the bunka shape. It does have more curve than the pictures show, but yeah that's a good point.



Curve might be fine. I like things pretty flat, usually, but idk if I’d like something super flat that was functionally like a petty, because when there’s not much heel height and not much curve it’ll be hard to keep your knuckles off the board. But part of me thinks this looks more like a traditional japanese knife in shape, so maybe it’d be appropriate for different techniques than I use, and different grips. Also hard for me to judge profiles in pics sometimes


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## jwthaparc (Aug 21, 2022)

Wait. No. Nvm I already have the saya made. Theres no way I'm reprofiling. Idk. I'll post a side shot, and also add a choil shot for fun.

Let me know what you think of the profile when stood up.


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## Pie (Aug 22, 2022)

Man. This thing is beautiful.


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## jwthaparc (Aug 24, 2022)

The choil shot. I had to zoom in a good bit to get the picture so I decided to show the measurement as well. It's mostly around .010 until it gets near the heel, then goes up to around .014ish to allow for a bit more strength there.












Edit: I feel like I should add, the choils a little smudged up from handling and polishing, I'll probably do an actual final picture to show it nice and clean.


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## jwthaparc (Aug 24, 2022)

Also here's the side profile shot. You can kind of see here... I've started the polish over again. I haven't had time to get the handle off yet, so I didnt really go all the way with it. I'll do that some time today, or tomorrow. Maybe get the handle off today, and polish, then put it back on and let it set up. Idk. 

Anyway back to the profile. So it looks straight. But really what it is, is a very slight curve. I tend to use a push cut style when I cook. So that's a profile that seems to work for me. Because as I'm going forward my the knife will kind of follow that slight curve instead of actually staying completely flat. 






I actually would like some feedback here. @ian I certainly agree, in the future. Taller would be better. But in regards to profile. What do you think people will find the most useful? Because if I'm not getting outside input, I'm just going to make what I find works for me, but that might not be what most people want. So anything will really be appreciated.


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## deltaplex (Aug 24, 2022)

Profile preference is pretty variable from person to person, ime. There are a thousand different ways to cut, and then on top of that you have people who adjust their technique to suit the knife in hand and those that seek out specific profiles to suit their honed in technique. So I think it's good that you're starting with what suits you, since it helps identify what adjustments are beneficial/detrimental to certain performance aspects and can be carried forward into other designs. I think if you're looking for what other people may find attractive: look at the different techniques (e.g. tip on board/push/pull/straight up and down/etc.) and see what profiles you can produce to benefit one or more of those.


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## ian (Aug 24, 2022)

jwthaparc said:


> Also here's the side profile shot. You can kind of see here... I've started the polish over again. I haven't had time to get the handle off yet, so I didnt really go all the way with it. I'll do that some time today, or tomorrow. Maybe get the handle off today, and polish, then put it back on and let it set up. Idk.
> 
> Anyway back to the profile. So it looks straight. But really what it is, is a very slight curve. I tend to use a push cut style when I cook. So that's a profile that seems to work for me. Because as I'm going forward my the knife will kind of follow that slight curve instead of actually staying completely flat.
> 
> ...



That looks like a good example of a sort of slight continuous curve, which probably would work for my cutting style. Looking at the pic, my ideal might be very slightly flatter toward the heel and very slightly more curved toward the tip, but it’s also just hard for me to tell from pics no matter what.


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## jwthaparc (Aug 24, 2022)

Its pretty much curved the whole way. There is a small flat spot at the heel. Maybe an inch, inch and a half? But mostly a slight curve.


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## superworrier (Aug 24, 2022)

Handles looks very good, even though the 3 layer ferrule didn't sound good to me originally. Overall, a very beautiful blade.


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## Pie (Aug 24, 2022)

I’d say profile preferences heavily depend on user’s cutting style. I tend to push and pull quite a bit and don’t draw too often with big knives, so For 240 and over I would prefer a mazaki profile, dead flat for a solid 50-60% and then transition to a medium height tip. I love super tall knives too. 

For something small I don’t mind the consistent curve, but would like a lower tip than for longer knives. 

What’s the coolest thing to me about your operation is the whole thing is 100% custom. Steel. Handle. Friggin hamon style. HRC. Everything. The positive to low volume production.


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## jwthaparc (Aug 24, 2022)

Man I've had a hard time today. I got done cooking for work, and decided to go ahead and take the handle off, and maybe change the temper a bit while I was at it. Man, I really stuck this thing on this time. I heated it a few times, and when I couldn't pull it off, I did the whole, hold the blade and use something solid against the ferrule to hammer the handle off thing. That didnt work either.

So I think I'll try again tomorrow, I'll put it in at a slightly lower heat, so I wont need to really worry about the handle getting ruined, and hold it there for a while. 250 f maybe?

Anyway I did a 2x4 chop test with a couple blades, this one, and a cpm 10v fixed blade I made. The person wasn't really suggesting testing a kitchen knife with this test, but i was curious. It didn't fair well, so I think I will temper a bit higher after I get the handle off tomorrow (I only brought it up to 325 original to leave it very hard, so maybe trying this test at all was dumb, especially at .010  with freaking 1095).

The cpm 10v is about .012 right behind the edge .011 in some spots. It actually did super well, and with the protocol I followed, I'm hoping its actually pretty hard (I wanted 65ish, but being realistic because I used a dry ice slurry rather than ln2 its probably 63, but idk for sure just being conservative but it definitely doesn't seem soft). I chopped a 2x4 70 times, stopping and shaving every 10 chops, I stopped at 70 because I figured I was going to shave my whole arm before I see anything change.



Edit: oh yeah, I messed up when cold stamping the cpm 10v lettering on the blade but decided to finish it anyway. I don't thing I'm going to end up selling it anyway, but it was still very disappointing.


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## jwthaparc (Aug 26, 2022)

Still trying to get the handle off...

I'm trying my best to not burn the micarta up in the process, but its looking more, and more like that's not going to be possible. I have more to replace it, if necessary, but that's such a waste. 

Anyway. Since I'm doing all this, I think I'm going to go ahead and just normalize and change the hamon. I really want it higher up the blade, this is the perfect opportunity to do it. So I might as well, since after testing I did end up changing the profile to remove the damage. I think I'll be happier with the end result, and doing that gets rid of the extreme thinness that would likely have given me problems if I tried this before. 

So idk i guess I'll just get the knife progressively hotter until this handle comes off, and after I get it on this time, I'll make sure I'm not going to have to take it off again lol.


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## ian (Aug 26, 2022)

jwthaparc said:


> Still trying to get the handle off...
> 
> I'm trying my best to not burn the micarta up in the process, but its looking more, and more like that's not going to be possible. I have more to replace it, if necessary, but that's such a waste.
> 
> ...



Don’t “normalize” this kind of perfectionism!

Heh, can’t wait to see what it turns out to be in the end. Great practice.


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## jwthaparc (Aug 26, 2022)

ian said:


> Don’t “normalize” this kind of perfectionism!
> 
> Heh, can’t wait to see what it turns out to be in the end. Great practice.


Lol. 

Well. Ok I finally got the handle off today. 400 degrees. Way hotter than I wanted to get the handle. I hope I can save the wood. If not I can start from scratch on it, but that would be a real shame. 

I normalized, 1600 to start fresh, then went down to 1475 2 times. Let it cool in vermiculite the final time, and I'll put the clay on tonight to dry, and get this thing hardened again. I think I'm going to temper at 360-365. So it should be fairly hard. 

Any suggestions from anyone on a nice design for the hamon? I have some ideas, but would love some input before I do it.


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## jwthaparc (Aug 27, 2022)

Welp ok. Got the "clay" on. 







So it doesn't give as clear of a view as a video, or in person, but just going off what happened last time it seems like I just want it right on the spine, if I go too much lower it ends up going down further than I actually want. I'm hoping what I have here will be a sweet spot. I have some smears, and little bits that should hopefully come out with some nice details after I polish it. 

Tonight it's going to dry. And tomorrow it's going in the oven. I had to do some hammering to get it straight so I'm a little nervous. I actually took that as an opportunity to cold forge just a touch, mostly with the thought that I should be left with a microstructure that can allow me to austenize a little bit lower. It should be pearlitic, so that should also allow for a fairly low temp. 

Idk. I guess we shall see.


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## jwthaparc (Aug 27, 2022)

Well. Its tempering now. No catastrophic failures right out of the quench. I'll see what it looks like when I pull it out of the first cycle in a few minutes. 

I also redid a 52100 blade that I tried heat treating before I had my kiln, and that one. It was very thin at the edge. The blade stayed straight, but the edge looks like a freaking sine wave. So idk what's going to happen with that one. I'll try to get it fixed, but it's going to be a challenge.


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## jwthaparc (Aug 27, 2022)

Welp. Nah. I guess I'm starting completely over lol.


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## MSicardCutlery (Aug 27, 2022)

How thick is the edge right now? Doing a clayed quench is asking for trouble if the edge is under about .050", and pretty well guaranteed to fail below .030".....except maybe in hot canola oil.


Edit: Crap, too late....


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## ian (Aug 27, 2022)

RIP bunka. Hello, next wonderful knife! Can’t wait.


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## jwthaparc (Aug 28, 2022)

Ok. So I did the quickest, and dirtiest possible grind and etch. Just to see what kind of hamon this was going to leave me. 







So. You can see, I didnt go all the way past the decarb, also there's an abrupt line. That's just where the ferric chloride was sitting on the knife when I etched it, then I flipped the knife and got the rest. But I'm able to tell, that i actually do like where the hamon would have been had this not happened. 

As long as I learned something this wasn't a waste, and I feel like it's better this way honestly. I went ahead and bought some 26c3 as soon as I saw the cracks. I know I will be able to get a better performing knife, and hopefully I'll get a hamon in happy with, there are a bunch of positives I see. 

The only negative is a little wasted steel, but even then if I learned, and got practice, was it really wasted?


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## jwthaparc (Aug 28, 2022)

MSicardCutlery said:


> How thick is the edge right now? Doing a clayed quench is asking for trouble if the edge is under about .050", and pretty well guaranteed to fail below .030".....except maybe in hot canola oil.
> 
> 
> Edit: Crap, too late....


Yeah. I knew it had a high risk of failing. Idk. I just figured, if the knife isn't going to be something I'm happy with how it is, it was worth a shot.


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## jwthaparc (Aug 30, 2022)

So. I've got my new little forge pretty much finished. Did a kinda short (probably a little to long honestly) firing to help the itc100 coating and the refractory mortar that I used cure. 

I basically just turned a paint can into a forge that should work for kitchen knife sized blades. Also I should be able to finish up the work on the base I'm making for an anvil I ordered. 

So I should be able to start forging again once the anvil, and the 26c3 gets here. 

I need to find a solution to get the torch in using as the burner to sit more sturdily In the forge. Right now I just have it set up where I can stick it in there and go. I want something solid to get it to sit better.


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## jwthaparc (Sep 1, 2022)

Steel got here today, I've got the forge mostly setup (at least enough for normal forging), the anvil just needs to be secured on the base, and that's about it. I should be able to get to work today.

I ordered .144, and seeing it in person. I really think I should have gotten thicker stock. It's a bit too close to what I want the final thickness right around the heel to be. I'll see how it goes, but I'm wanting it thick near the handle, then to distal taper, and have a thin slicey tip.

Just looked at the composition for this specific batch, the manganese is a little higher than I was hoping. Which has me a little worried, the phosphorus, and sulfur are particularly low at least.


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## jwthaparc (Sep 2, 2022)

I completely forgot how much these it sucks using these extra long needle nose pliers instead of actual tongs.

Im going to have to figure something else out, these don't hold the work well enough to actually do what I need to do.


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## jwthaparc (Sep 3, 2022)

Ok, one step foreward, another step back. I found for this size piece of steel, I can actually use this pair of vise grips pretty successfully, and leave it on without them heating up. Which is good, because getting tight vise grips off a hot piece if steel can be a challenge sometimes. 





The step back, well, I'm waiting on a part for the forge, so I can upgrade the size of tank I'm using. I've ran this off of 1lb propane tanks so far, mostly because I had a high output torch, that I bought a while back to make a 2 brick forge for heat treating, and it honestly works great for small forges like this, but it is sized for 1lb tanks. Which was fine, because I had 4 just sitting around. I quickly ran through all of them, and decided I needed to find a better way to do this, so I've got a 1lb to 20 lb adapter coming from amazon, and i have a big tank of propane sitting around until that comes in Monday. 

So I guess, while I'm waiting for that, I'll try to find other things that don't require a forge to do. I've got a bunch of little stuff, but it's not great timing, because I'm out of money, trying to get myself able to forge again. I need more belts. I mean I can grind these low alloy steels fine with what I have now, but I have some 10v that needs some work, and I'm kinda stuck still right now.


Man I wish I wasn't broke lol. Idk I just wanted to vent I guess.


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## jwthaparc (Sep 8, 2022)

Well. The new knife is well underway. I guess I'll keep posting in this thread even though this knife will be nothing like the last one? I can't remember the rules on how often I can make a wip thread.

Anyway. 26c3, and it's going to be a large gyuto. I haven't measured it, but looking at it, it should easily be in the 240 range I believe.

This was kinda early on it the forging process, you can see a little nub of a tang, and the tip is starting to come through. 




Then a little later, the tang is close to final dimensions (kinda). The tip is forged, just about as much as I'm going to forge it to shape, it will change after grinding obviously. 




After this picture I did a good bit of tapering, and forged the bevels in a bit. I really tried my hardest to not reduce the thickness right near the heel, we will see how I did in the end.

Then I normalized, I tried an experiment with this extra piece of kaowool I have. I took it out of the oven and placed it in here, to see how it would compare to the speed vermiculite cools. 



It insulated the blade much better than vermiculite, and I think I will use this from now on, if i do a rapid det anneal. Idk if the vermiculite I bought just isn't good? Or if vermiculite, in general will cool faster than this method. Either way, this gave me something much closer to the 600 degrees per hour cooling rate that larrin recommends, than vermiculite.

Anyway. Finally I'm in the middle of an actual anneal. I brought it up to 1430 I believe, and held for just under an hour, ramped down to 1350 slowly, and shut the oven off. It cools extremely slowly, so it will likely be down to 400 something degrees tomorrow, and I'll pull It out.


The reason for the slow det anneal is, I'm planning to try plantishing the blade. Basically it's cold forging, it should allow for a much better finish before grinding, remove any scale that didnt come off on the surface grinder, and let me deal with some of the fine details I couldn't get to hot forging. It requires that the blade be extremely soft, but the biggest plus, is it will lead to extremely fine grain, and great hardening response (from what I've seen).

Anyway. I'm excited to give it a try, but also a bit nervous.

Edit: I didnt mean surface grinder. I wish I had a surface grinder. I meant surface conditioning belt.


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## inferno (Oct 7, 2022)

maybe its not such a good idea to have that kaowool uncoated like that. you know, lung cancer and ****.

-------------------

i work with 52100 from roller bearing stock a lot. since i have a basically unlimited supply of this.

so the problem with these round pieces is that i have to fold these out and then forge them straight. and to fold these out i need to bring them up to bright yellow. 

and then when i've done that i have to heat the whole piece several times to very high temps to erase its "memory" so it doesn't warp like a banana when quenching.

and all these high heats pretty much guarantees me to have a very coarse structure.

you know what i do about that?

i just heat the piece up to unmagnetic (or just slightly above) and then air cool. 2 times.
then 1 time just slighty below, (i judge this by color). air cool.

results: its soft as wood, and after hardening the grain is so fine its just a matte gray. i think i get close to max hardness out of the quench too. 

maybe try this on your simple carbons?


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## jwthaparc (Oct 7, 2022)

Ive been running a normalizing cycle. Then usually do a det anneal. Do any final straightening. Then do a subcritical anneal to relieve any stress from straightening. 

Im thinking I'm going to leave hamons alone after this last attempt. I ended up getting a hairing crack in it. 

And honestly the only reason I'm trying to do hamons is for looks, it's not like a kitchen knife needs ones. Also because I can't help but be kinda bored working with some of these forging steels. 

I'm trying to just move on to San mai, and if not that, then I'll go normal monosteel.


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## inferno (Oct 7, 2022)

yeah i was thinking maybe there is no need to do all these exotic energy/time consuming cycles all the time. just bring it up to nonmagnetic and air cool 3 times and then its done.

you could at least try it. if it works, it saves a lot of time and energy.

------------

from what i have read regarding hamons. you need to coat the entire blade. thin. and then thicker where you want the action to be. otherwise it will crack. and then maybe leave some extra meat near the edge. not paper thin.

also you might need to use brine instead of water. yes brine is even more aggressive than water but it reduces the bubbles so you dont get any hotspots/large gradients.

i've also seen swordmakers doing interupted quenches. like dunk for 3 seconds or so, then up.

you could also try warm oil. 70-80C.


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## jwthaparc (Oct 7, 2022)

inferno said:


> yeah i was thinking maybe there is no need to do all these exotic energy/time consuming cycles all the time. just bring it up to nonmagnetic and air cool 3 times and then its done.
> 
> you could at least try it. if it works, it saves a lot of time and energy.
> 
> ...


I've been using fast oil(parks 50) to get the hamons. They seem to still have nice activity. 

I'm just not going to worry about doing another hamon for a while, and I'm going to try to go for San Mai, and pm steel blades for now. I just got a decent amount of 10v in, and I'm finally doing to boning knife I talked about a while back, but I'm changing it slightly to a honesuke, because Im able to get 2 out of 1 bar, and hopefully I can sell one of them if I'm lucky. 

Plus I just got a Dewar and ln2 to play with. So there's that.


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## jwthaparc (Oct 7, 2022)

Oh yeah, I just got a big bar of 416 stainless too, I need to draw it out to make it useable which is a pain, but still. Hopefully I can some how manage getting some use with it.


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## inferno (Oct 7, 2022)

i for one. think you should actually do more hamons. just get a big thin piece of the steel you intend to use and do "coupons." no need to grind it to a knife. all these simple carbons cost next to nothing anyway.

and then try out different things until you nail it. take notes.

i'm gonna start a 15n20 hamon project sometime this winter. and as we all know its an oil hardening steel. but i have a feeling i can still get a hamon in it. a good one.


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## inferno (Oct 7, 2022)

what are you gonna do with the 416?


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## jwthaparc (Oct 7, 2022)

inferno said:


> what are you gonna do with the 416?


If everything goes well, stainless clad gyuto. With 26c3 core. I really wish I had some nickle foil between the stainless, and 26c3 to help carbon migration.


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## inferno (Oct 7, 2022)

any specific reason for 400 series instead of 300? 

i get that its actually hardenable. but also less "stainless". 

there is also duplex and superduplex, its stronger and harder than 300 series. and as much or more stainless. i think its ferritic/austenitic in structure.


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## jwthaparc (Oct 7, 2022)

inferno said:


> any specific reason for 400 series instead of 300?
> 
> i get that its actually hardenable. but also less "stainless".
> 
> there is also duplex and superduplex, its stronger and harder than 300 series. and as much or more stainless. i think its ferritic/austenitic in structure.


416 should be pretty stainless still. 

It's not so much that I want the strength from hardening, but I'm worried about expansion during the phase change. On the low alloy steels it shouldn't be a huge issue. I've wanted to experiment with higher alloy steels though, and see what I can do.


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## inferno (Oct 7, 2022)

i dont think its an issue no matter what ss you use. i've seen 304 clad, 316 clad 410 clad etc. it all seems to stick. personally i'd like to see aeb-l clad hss. yeah lets go full out. 

an option would be 1095/15n20 damascus clad rwl or 3v something 
4 fun.


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## jwthaparc (Oct 7, 2022)

inferno said:


> i dont think its an issue no matter what ss you use. i've seen 304 clad, 316 clad 410 clad etc. it all seems to stick. personally i'd like to see aeb-l clad hss. yeah lets go full out.
> 
> an option would be 1095/15n20 damascus clad rwl or 3v something
> 4 fun.


I've talked with a maker that works with cladd high alloy steels. Ss is harder to get welded. It just needs more prep. 

Though, they mentioned, specifically with high alloy stuff there can be an issue with it tearing the cladding during hardening from the stress caused by the expansion. They mentioned austenitic stainless steels when we were talking about it.


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## M1k3 (Oct 8, 2022)

inferno said:


> i dont think its an issue no matter what ss you use. i've seen 304 clad, 316 clad 410 clad etc. it all seems to stick. personally i'd like to see aeb-l clad hss. yeah lets go full out.
> 
> an option would be 1095/15n20 damascus clad rwl or 3v something
> 4 fun.


How about AEB-L clad in mild steel, a la @Carl Kotte


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## Carl Kotte (Oct 8, 2022)

M1k3 said:


> How about AEB-L clad in mild steel, a la @Carl Kotte


It’s so good you can’t believe it’s not honyaki


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## EnderzShadow (Oct 10, 2022)

I know you said something about the hamon line not showing up, but from what I can see that hamon line is awesome. 

I have trouble with patina showing up in a picture. And I have lights, good camera etc.


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## jwthaparc (Oct 10, 2022)

EnderzShadow said:


> I know you said something about the hamon line not showing up, but from what I can see that hamon line is awesome.
> 
> I have trouble with patina showing up in a picture. And I have lights, good camera etc.


Oh yeah. 

It was showing up, but not all the detail you could see in person was coming through.


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## jwthaparc (Nov 29, 2022)

Finally i have time to start working on this magnacut nakiri project again. I was caught up with some stuff, and also trying some forge welding experiments. 

Anyway. Im polishing with a 220 grit edm stone. Also making the very final geometry adjustments.


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