First I'm going to ask that you re-size that large photo.

There is a forum photo size of 1000 x 1000 pxl. I'll give you until tomorrow to re-size that.

What is going on in the middle section is what we can refer to as the "transition zone".

To put it simply - just think of it this way: The bottom is hard. The top is soft. Somewhere in between there has to be an area where it's just a little bit of both. It's a transition from one to the other.

The different hardnesses etch differently and you are just getting to see all of that activity.

I have a question did you only apply to the spine or did you apply to the spine and flats. basically you only want to be exposed to what you want to get 'hard' is how i view making a hamon. you also want a nice even heat down the entire blade to get a good hamon so a torch hardening is not the best way to go. however someone else please chime in. also, it does take significantly longer in the quench to get a hard blade when employing clay, once your quench medium stops boiling is the best indication I have found.

Hello George. As Karl said you have a transition zone there with some alloy banding. First off, if this is some of Aldos 1084, the manganese amount in it is really not the best for hamons. Manganese promotes deep hardening. For a nice hamon you need a shallow hardening steel, such as 1095, W1, W2, and Aldos new batch of 1075. Also a torch is not the best way to heat a blade for a hamon. You need to bring the whole blade up to temp using a heat treating oven or a forge. The clay does not stop the cooling process when quenching, just slows it down enough to prevent full martensite formation. SO for a shallow hardening steel you will also need a fast quench oil like parks 50. Canola oil will work at 120-130 but you will not get as much activity as you will with the parks. I hope this helps.

Brion

Karl, Thank you for letting me know. I thought I had resized them all but I guess I missed one. The transitional zone sounds very interesting. Is there any way to actually expand this zone to make it cover a larger area?

Kevin, I applied to the flats as well up about a 3/8"-1/2" from the edge. Thank you for your insight with the clay.

Brion, indeed this is some of Aldo's. Thank you it does help. I've been thinking about picking up the parks for a while, and will give your recommended steels a shot.

|quoted:

Karl, Thank you for letting me know. I thought I had resized them all but I guess I missed one. The transitional zone sounds very interesting. Is there any way to actually expand this zone to make it cover a larger area?

Kevin, I applied to the flats as well up about a 3/8"-1/2" from the edge. Thank you for your insight with the clay.

Brion, indeed this is some of Aldo's. Thank you it does help. I've been thinking about picking up the parks for a while, and will give your recommended steels a shot.

I do not know what I would do to create a more prominent transition zone. That's getting pretty particular.

I do know that you will be in a new realm of hamons if you "transition" over to shallower hardening steels like Brion suggested and use faster oil accordingly. It's just more fun.

Thanks Karl.

|quoted:

Karl, Thank you for letting me know. I thought I had resized them all but I guess I missed one. The transitional zone sounds very interesting. Is there any way to actually expand this zone to make it cover a larger area?

Kevin, I applied to the flats as well up about a 3/8"-1/2" from the edge. Thank you for your insight with the clay.

Brion, indeed this is some of Aldo's. Thank you it does help. I've been thinking about picking up the parks for a while, and will give your recommended steels a shot.

Its a good idea to clay the spine and if the blade has one the entire riccoso area as the riccoso is the thickest part of the blade it will mess with the heat treatment. also you can get cracking at the tip if you do not coat the spine of your blade.