Rusty Japanese Knife Steel Tested and WHOOPS!

Your questions left me with questions! I found the remains of 2 of the 5 original blades, did some testing and - SHEESH, I got this one wrong. See what you think!

The only marking I found on these knives besides the millimeter designation on their butts was a "万" kanji on the side of one of the handles. It apparently means "10,000" or "All" or "ichiman". It has a Chinese equivalent that translates to a few proper nouns. None of these terms yielded any helpful search results. I never found evidence of maker's marks on the blades. I'd still conclude these are production knives of some kind but a few were decent quality? If you know anything post in the comments section.

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[GreenBeetle]

Based on the etching of my knife I favor theory number 1. What do you guys think. Do you have theories of your own?

[MrAPCProductions]

Not only did you test other's theories, but published a video explaining what you got wrong. Props. Seriously.

Second, probably 1, but realistically, couldn't it be anything from korean war era sherman tank tracks to melted down flip phones?

[colsoncustoms]

Great follow up video. The “handle and all” foil pack normalization caught me off guard😂
I bet you could soak that blade at higher temps and get that carbon to migrate a little, not sure if it’s worth it but considering the crazy stuff you’ve done in the past with carburization and migration, it wouldn’t be out of place.

[chucktraughber]

I enjoyed the previous video and this follow up and all your videos. I enjoy how real your videos are you don't hide your struggles and learning and success!!

[patricken]

I get a kick out of these breakdowns. Thanks for doing it. I cant even begin to guess how ya lost the hardness. Chop it up, canister it, add a small edge of 1095 and etch the hell out of it to showcase all the contrasts.

[hermanosamuel]

Always love the genuine, unpretentiousness of your videos. It's so cool that you walk us through, not just the task, but the learning and thought process (or honest lack in some cases 😂). Thanks, and keep up the great content.

[shaemans]

Theory 1 seems the most likely. Since this was a grab bag of knives at least one of them could have been an oddball with a lower carbon steel resulting in the lower hardness of the finished knife. Especially since you got what appeared to be consistent hardness results

[stLeviathan]

I think your first conclusion makes the most sense

[RogerioCosta.]

Still a good result. A good lesson learned, two good videos and one happy guy that made 20 bucks from a pile of rust.

[leftseatmcgee]

And here I had passed out and only vaguely remember my shock when you finally got a decent weld out of such corroded stock!

[weylinchandler]

I’d have to agree with the first possible explanation. I’m not an expert on Japanese cutlery by any means, but in my experience etching san mai (with mild steel) or grinding the can off canisters, I find that mild steel etches noticeably different than even unhardened carbon steel. I would think that if you had mild steel or iron san mai it would have been exposed on the initial test etches. I think the possibility you have two different hardenable steels that don’t etch super distinctly prior to hardening is more likely. Also possibly worth considering is that the final blade appeared to have a decent amount 65 and 57 sections. With the extreme level of rust on those blades and as thin at they were, I’d almost think a large portion of any mild steel or iron jacket would have been corroded away and wouldn’t have left enough material left to make up that much of the metal in the final piece. But could also be completely wrong haha. That’s the fun part of experimental bladesmithing. Super interesting project regardless of the results!

[BradGryphonn]

That was an interesting follow-up. Thanks, buddy.

[bbogster]

So you are a human! Lol 😆
I think you have a mixed bag. This was a really interesting video. It makes me think I need to do more testing with the random steels I use. Thank-you for sharing.

[tristanbarnett]

It's all right my friend even the most professionals can make a mistake but if you're always willing to admit your mistake that makes up for it as the old saying goes Life's a dance you learn as you go

[winnipegbladeworks]

always enjoy the videos! keep up the good work steve

[alloounou]

Good luck on discovering the answer. As someone with only aspirations to get into blacksmithing and no experience, all I can say is an amount more or less or equal to one of these options may or may not be correct.

[rpc]

I don't see any problems here. First, you made a great video about constructing a knife from old knives. The knife came out pretty cool, despite the paucity of useable material you had to start with. I think all of your testing points to your conclusion that you were starting with some high quality steels and some low quality steels, but not enough of either one to do rigorous testing beforehand. You even got another great video out of the process in exchange for a lesser knife. Next time you just need a lot more rusty knives to start with so you can weed out the nonhackers, which will be yet another cool video. Win win win!

[tellket]

Couldn’t guess as to the steel sir. Thank you for the post

[sangomasmith]

This is good science.

I'd tend towards 1 as the most simple, parsimonious explanation. If 2 were true than you'd expect a more complex etching pattern. If 3 was the case than you'd expect the knife to be much softer, with thin bands of darker material on the etch.

[TalRohan]

awe you burnt that lovely handle off ...and you did make damascus without even knowing lol
fascinating process all told though thanks for that.
I think your knife was going to be a better utility knife than the original ones simply because of toughness and thats usually what matters for me .
10/10 for this and the previous video