[TheForge] Fw: Fw: Hay cutter blades.

[Jason Nass]

A temper line or to use the Japanese term Hamon has little to do with the
quenchant and far more to do with the heat treating process itself. It comes
from the blade having what is called a differential temper, and is the point
in the steel where the crystalline structure changes from hard to soft. I
can't remember specifically off the top of my head which exactly they are,
but martensite and pearlite seem to jump to the forefront of my brain.
Regardless of that however, a hamon is produced by method of rapidly cooling
the edge while allowing the sine to cool slower. The Japanese swordsmiths
achieved this by means of painting the blade in refractory clays which were
thicker towards the spine which when quenched would insulate it causing it
to cool considerably slower than the edge. A similar effect can be achieved
by submerging your initially tempered edge in water while heating the spine
to draw the temper back further. One other note is that a hamon usually will
not appear or will be muddy, buff the blade to a polish, the polish must be
achieved by progressively finer abrasives worked by hand, I believe this is
caused by the heat a buffing wheel generates, but again, my memory isn't
always spot on and it could be another factor entirely. Hope this helps,
while I am by no means an expert on the subject, I have successfully managed
to produce 2 blades in the traditional Japanese methods, and if I can save
you some headaches down the road, I'd be happy to share my findings.

Jason Nass - me at wargoth.com

-----Original Message-----
From: theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net
[mailto:theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Mark A. Pesetsky
Sent: Monday, September 27, 2010 12:08 PM
To: Blacksmithing List Sponsored by ABANA
Subject: Re: [TheForge] Fw: Fw: Hay cutter blades.

No 

-----Original Message-----
From: theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net
[mailto:theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Andy Gladish
Sent: Monday, September 27, 2010 11:52 AM
To: Blacksmithing List Sponsored by ABANA
Subject: Re: [TheForge] Fw: Fw: Hay cutter blades.

Consumer warning: Noob question inbound!
Do you have to use water to get a good hamon line?
Andy G

--------------------------------------------------
From: "Mark A. Pesetsky" <pesetsky at Princeton.EDU>
Sent: Monday, September 27, 2010 7:43 AM
To: "Blacksmithing List Sponsored by ABANA" <theforge at mailman.qth.net>
Subject: Re: [TheForge] Fw:  Fw:  Hay cutter blades.

> Habit from being a hamon guy:)
> 
 
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