Evan Wilson
Gold Member
- Joined
- Aug 4, 2023
- Messages
- 174
I will start by saying that I understand that alloying steel and other metals requires firm knowledge on the subject of metallurgy and I am interested in the communities thoughts on if the idea I have is viable in theory and whether or not anyone may have delved into this before or not so I might get a better idea of if I want to pursue this or not.
the idea I had that was something along the lines of powdered steel and other powdered metals like tungsten cobalt nickel and the like can be obtained in powdered form is it possible to thoroughly mix powdered metals like this and forge the metals via the canister damascus method to get a alloyed steel?
risks: of canister as I see them either things don't weld due to not being able to achieve the necessary temps or the metals wont want to weld or wont due to differences in the needed temperatures and potentially wasting money on something that might not be viable.
possible benefits: a more homogeneous piece of steel more comparable to modern mono steel might be possible without needing a blast furnace.
if not canister than could something similar be achieved by a bloom iron/steel melt then processing the bloom similar to the way Japanese smiths would traditionally forge swords by flattening pieces and sorting the metal to then stack a billet and folding a 12 to 14 times?
risks: of bloom steel something potentially usable has a higher success rate but would otherwise be less homogeneous and I would be introducing potential inclusions.
possible benefits: more room for controlling the alloying through multiple steps in the process through multiple stages.
from what I understand of modern steel and metallurgy in order to achieve a good alloyed steel then a refractory process is needed where the metals in question are added to a crucible and melted to create a homogeneous piece of steel.
from the historic aspect of traditional and primitive iron and steel making I understand that a somewhat homogeneous piece of steel can be produced at least with simple carbon steels through the process of using bloom steel creating a stack and folding that a few times.
what are your thought and is there any potential in the idea?
is there anything I might be missing or have not considered?
is this something that might be good to try as a hobby or for a personal knife aside from the expense?
the idea I had that was something along the lines of powdered steel and other powdered metals like tungsten cobalt nickel and the like can be obtained in powdered form is it possible to thoroughly mix powdered metals like this and forge the metals via the canister damascus method to get a alloyed steel?
risks: of canister as I see them either things don't weld due to not being able to achieve the necessary temps or the metals wont want to weld or wont due to differences in the needed temperatures and potentially wasting money on something that might not be viable.
possible benefits: a more homogeneous piece of steel more comparable to modern mono steel might be possible without needing a blast furnace.
if not canister than could something similar be achieved by a bloom iron/steel melt then processing the bloom similar to the way Japanese smiths would traditionally forge swords by flattening pieces and sorting the metal to then stack a billet and folding a 12 to 14 times?
risks: of bloom steel something potentially usable has a higher success rate but would otherwise be less homogeneous and I would be introducing potential inclusions.
possible benefits: more room for controlling the alloying through multiple steps in the process through multiple stages.
from what I understand of modern steel and metallurgy in order to achieve a good alloyed steel then a refractory process is needed where the metals in question are added to a crucible and melted to create a homogeneous piece of steel.
from the historic aspect of traditional and primitive iron and steel making I understand that a somewhat homogeneous piece of steel can be produced at least with simple carbon steels through the process of using bloom steel creating a stack and folding that a few times.
what are your thought and is there any potential in the idea?
is there anything I might be missing or have not considered?
is this something that might be good to try as a hobby or for a personal knife aside from the expense?
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