Thread: Another Talon, kirinite old denim scales

Looking good!!!! A number of years ago, one of the guys who was making san mai blades from a carbon steel core and 416 cladding told me that he would put clay just on the spine when quenching, not for some kind of high rise hamon, but to prevent that potential delamination.

Originally Posted by JDM61

Looking good!!!! A number of years ago, one of the guys who was making san mai blades from a carbon steel core and 416 cladding told me that he would put clay just on the spine when quenching, not for some kind of high rise hamon, but to prevent that potential delamination.

In this case that wouldn't work, because the contrast layers wouldn't harden either.

No i mean just the TOP of the spine. Nothing on the bevels/hollow. As best as I can tell, you are "fixing' the spot where the delimitation is most likely to start. Do you harden the tang/monkey tail or just the blade?

Originally Posted by Bruno

In this case that wouldn't work, because the contrast layers wouldn't harden either.

Originally Posted by JDM61

No i mean just the TOP of the spine. Nothing on the bevels/hollow. As best as I can tell, you are "fixing' the spot where the delimitation is most likely to start. Do you harden the tang/monkey tail or just the blade?

The spine has to harden as well, or the core steel will not etch on the spine.
And the point as well, or it won't etch properly either.
And those places are where delamination is likely.

My experience is that unhardened steel will etch just fine. I have etched unhardened damascus guard and buttcap material i the past with no problem. With that said, I have been told that it will actually etch more slowly than hardened steel, which is a bit counterintuitive.

Originally Posted by Bruno

The spine has to harden as well, or the core steel will not etch on the spine.
And the point as well, or it won't etch properly either.
And those places are where delamination is likely.

Very like the color and design of the handle.

Originally Posted by JDM61

My experience is that unhardened steel will etch just fine. I have etched unhardened damascus guard and buttcap material i the past with no problem. With that said, I have been told that it will actually etch more slowly than hardened steel, which is a bit counterintuitive.

Your experience is wrong.
Harden half a piece of steel and leave the other half soft.
Etch that.
See what happens.

It is normal that soft steel etches a lot less, since the carbon is distributed in a different manner, and the crystalline structure of the steel is different. Which in turn means the chemistry is different.

If parts are hard and parts are soft, it looks like crap.

Here is an example of where I did try to etch unhardened damascus. The blade was ovbviously hardened, but the guard and buttcap were not. In the case of the buttcap, it would not have made much difference as I had to heat it with a torch in order to silver braise a cut down Corby nut to the underside to mate with the threaded tang. That requires a temperature somewhere between 618C and 740C depending on the solver content of the solder. As a matter of fact, the buttcap were etched AFTER the knife had been put together and the buttcap was ground to shape and size. The reason that the pattern on the fittings is so bold is that it is "side" of a crushed W pattern billet. I don't have may ics of the buttcap and guard head on because they were lost when my old computer crashed.

Originally Posted by Bruno

Your experience is wrong.
Harden half a piece of steel and leave the other half soft.
Etch that.
See what happens.

It is normal that soft steel etches a lot less, since the carbon is distributed in a different manner, and the crystalline structure of the steel is different. Which in turn means the chemistry is different.

If parts are hard and parts are soft, it looks like crap.