Annealing Damascus for Jewelry

J

John Frankl

Joined
Oct 16, 2001
Messages
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Hello All,

Just wondering what recommendations you all have for annealing damascus
(1084x15N20) prior to making rings and other jewelry. I have an Evenheat kiln, so the process can involve precise temperature controls and holds.

Thanks a bunch,

John
 
Not sure of the numbers, the ramp down time and temperatures, but if they are small pieces, maybe sandwich them between some larger steel pieces to keep them from cooling too quickly?
 
I go with 1325 for 30 minutes and leave the door closed until its down to around 800f. Soft as butta
 
John, just a thought, but you might want to take the raw stock through a couple normalizing cycles to get the grain size down a bit before you do the anneal. Sometimes the post-forging grain size can look a little large and funky when visible on a smallish piece of jewelry.
 
Thanks a bunch you guys!

For Don and Bruce--is this a spheroidized anneal? And will it work well for blades too?

For Mike--thanks. I originally was just normalizing three times and then trying to work the stock, but it stayed way, way too hard.

John
 
John Frankl said:
Thanks a bunch you guys!

For Don and Bruce--is this a spheroidized anneal? And will it work well for blades too?

For Mike--thanks. I originally was just normalizing three times and then trying to work the stock, but it stayed way, way too hard.

John
Click to expand...

Yep it works for blades also. I always give my steel this treatment prior to grinding and even sometimes after rough grinding prior to heat treatment. Its a great stress reliever for me and the steel. :)
 
Years ago, I was having trouble cutting bolster slices off mosaic billets (ruin a $30+ blade quick) Al Dippold told me about the spheroidized anneal, his info came from Howard Clark.

I use one hour on thick billets but 30 minutes is mo better for smaller/thinner pieces. I always normalize after forging, before the anneal.

1325f is good also, you want to be close to but stay under critical temp.
 
It's a subcritical anneal ,usually 1200 F. If you keep it at temperature for a long time the carbides will spheroidize but for normal working 1 hour is ok.
 
John,

I get the smallest tightest look by following the normalizing with at least one full hardening quench. (I do three) followed by the sub-critical anneal. I also can get a deaper cleaner etch on steel that has been hardened and tempered back to full soft than I can get on steel that has been normalized and sperodized only. (If i etch unhardened steel as deeply it starts to look fuzzy and pitted in the weld zones)
Bill
 
I got some damascus from IG and it was to hard for me to cut. So I anneal it in my heat treat oven and it was soft and work great here. I put it in the Oven for 2 hours at 1500 and let it cool down by it self. You can alway rehard the steel to what you want it to be. It works for me. Hope this was of help to you. Have a great day. I am heat treating and temping two knives to day. :thumbup:
 
Again, all you guys are the best! I really appreciate the information.

Bill, I'll probably actually harden and temper the rings, etc. before my final etching cycles. One thing I learned from doing a bunch of damascus fittings under JD Smith is that the hardened stuff etches way, way cleaner.

John
 
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