Originally Posted by mart
Hi mate cool knife. Is the blade differentialy tempered to form the 'hamon'
If I were you I would get a japanese sword cleaning kit, that will keep your blade clean without harming the temper line.
Try
http://www.ninecircles.co.uk/
Choji oil smells a bit mind.
Regards, Mart
PS, the temperline looks like castle rigg stone circle in a blizard.
Actually I already have a sword cleaning kit (I use it to clean my swords ), but it's not really necessary for this knife.
The blade is actually differentially hardened (tempering is a different process) and yeah, it's that process that creates the hamon.
The blade is covered in clay, thick clay on the spine and thin clay on the edge. Then the blade is heated and when the crystaline structure of the steel changes, the blade is quenched in either oil or brine. If the steel cools very quickly, then the hard crystals that formed are "locked" into place, if the steel cools slowly, those crystals are lost and the steel returns to being relatively soft. Where the clay is thick on the spine, you get a softer, tougher bit of blade because it cooled slower and where the clay was thin, you get a hard, sharp bit of blade because it cooled fast. The hamon is the transition zone between the 2 areas.
In traditional Japanese blades, the blade is "polished" with a very, very fine abrasive until the hamon pops out. But with my knife, the hamon has been revealed with an acid etch. That makes it much easier to look after and if the hamon goes faint, I just wipe the blade with some acid again to bring it back.
Sooooooo..... no need for posh Japanese polishing kits.
So sorry, I thought hamon ment temperline or "Badge of the edge"
as does Yakiba.
Surely tempering not hardening the blade creates the wavy line along the edge
that in japan is called a hamon.
Regards, Mart.