Differentially hardened Alien2

[Bruno]

I decided to make another Alien2 design razor, but in SC145 steel, differentially hardened. I.e. I wanted it to have a hamon. I used regular clay to coat the blade, but it was not a roaring success. Plain clay has the tendency to peel away. Going into HT I knew it wasn't holding on that well. I quenched it, and it held for a short while, and slowed the cooling enough to make a difference. However, etching showed that the spine is not as soft as it could have been. You can see the difference between the hard and less hard parts.

I also used ferric chloride for the etching. I was advised to use nitric acide, but my wife has not yet approved my setup. She's a lab supervisor and has firm ideas about dealing with nitric acid. Esp since I have to dilute it down from 60 to 6%.

The scales are lava flow kirinite. The hamon didn't show up the way I wanted it, to, but for a first experiment I am not unhappy. Besides, the dark look, looks nice, and when all is said and done, the edge since is hard as glass so I have no doubts it will shave.