What Happened Here?

[ozspyder]

Just a nit: A lamination line and a hamon are rather different things. The latter is produced in a Japanese sword by the special heat-treating process ("yaki-ire"). The hamon is visible because of deliberate differences in the crystalline structure, not because two pieces have been forge-welded together. In a J-sword, the closest thing to a 'lamination line' is called "hada" (often resembles subtle wood grain; similar to 'damascus', but much more subtle), and it is the result of the steel billet being folded several times.

Pete

Thanks Pete,

It definitely is not a hamon. That's why I made reference to it in inverted commas and people refer to it as such. The tempering process and clay covered forgin prcess is what gives the true hamon its characteristic.

Your technical explanation covers this well :) Regardless, some people don't like the lamination line - I particularly like it because it is a bitt different and I feel it gives some character to the blade - each knife is slightly different also.

My love of Japanese swords/ design does not translate to ownership & usage of them unfortunately - EDC os those is rather problematic :p :rolleyes:

[saipan59]

Hi Daniel,
Nice to meet you. I have a few J-swords, and I used to be rather serious at it, but they've just been locked away for years now.
Speaking of Japanese-style cutlery: I'd like to see Spyderco do a simple "kiridashi" style knife - 1-piece, carbon steel, but with some sort of Spyderco touch added (?).

Pete

[supermatch38sa]

Hi guys, isn´t this type of laminated blade commonly known as San mai?
Greetings from Arce, Spain to you all my dear spyderfriends!!!!!!! :)
Jose

[saipan59]

Hi guys, isn´t this type of laminated blade commonly known as San mai? Jose

Yes. In Japanese, "san mai" literally means "3 layers". It can actually refer to anything that has 'flat pieces' or 'layers', such as a birthday cake, or 3 pieces of paper, etc. I mention this because us Westerners may assume that it is an Exotic Knife Word, that implies ancient mystical Asian secret forging techniques... ;-). But it's really nothing more than "3 layers".

I first saw the term used with knives with the Cold Steel Tanto. They use a lot of Japanese terminology in their products (although it is not always entirely authentic terminology - it's a Marketing thing).

Since "san mai" is a bit of a gimmick term, I'd recommend using the appropriate English words, such as "laminated" ;-) .

Pete

[Bluntrauma]

So I wanted to give an update on the knife. As I think I mentioned Jeff at Cutlery Shoppe was top notch with this. I sent it back to him and got an email from him this morning.

He apologized that the scuffed up tang got through QA/QC and told me he was keeping it as a user. He said he hand picked me out a new one and it's on it's way with tracking. He also charged back 8.95 in shipping and handling to my credit card.

I gotta say this is what customer service is all about. Just want to put it out there that Jeff is a good one. I have found a new dealer to add to my list. I will be purchasing from him in the future for sure. Thanks to everyone who educated me on the hamon line on the knife. Learn something new everyday.

[dsmegst]

That's top-notch CS. He's got me as a repeat customer for sure.