Damascus Camp Knife WIP

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Burt,
If you have time, do you think it might be possible to give a sense of time to this thread. Just from looking at the pictures, I have no idea if I am looking at hours, days, or weeks of work. Not necessary of course, but it would help me at least to get a sense of the amount of time and effort you have to put in.
Great thread, thanks for the process pics.
Nick
 
So far, this was part of three days. A few hours on the original billet, a few on the twist and re-stack and a few getting the blade forged.

Actually, it was either a couple hours or a fortnight without sleep, whichever sounds more impressive. :D
 
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I cut the knife off the bar and guesstimate how much steel I'll need to draw out the tang.


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Tang end is reheated and drawn out.


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I curve the butt over the horn of the anvil and start to round off the back. An no one start giving me crap about my plastic handled hammer. I like my plastic hammer....


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The I bring the forward end of the handle back toward the blade.


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And adjusting again with that specialty tool. These are for sale by the way...


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And after a little more work, here's the forged blade. This is as forged. No grinding has been done at this point. I actually came back the next day and cleaned this up a little more on the anvil before I started rough grinding.
 
Here are a few normalizing shots...


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I put the blade in the preheated oven.


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Here's the controller, set to 1550F. I'll normalize twice at 1550 and once at 1500. Then it's annealed (sort of) at 1400F and allowed to cool in the oven.


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When normalizing, the blade is brought to temp, and removed to air cool. Here's a couple shots of the blade cooling.


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Probably 10-15 seconds after removing from oven.


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And maybe 20-30 seconds. You can't see recalesence in this blade because it has O-1 and O-1 will not show recalesence (the "re-brightening" of the steel upon cooling)
 
cool!
:cool:
 
John,

Here's a shot of the hammer:

air-hammer.jpg


I got it in a trade with a friend. It's a homemade hammer that's probably 15 years old. It came to me in working condition with a 35 lb head. It worked for over ten years for the previous owner and I broke it in a week. So I rebuilt the guides, dies, die mounts, and air cylinder kinda loosely based on the Kinyon style guide designs. I didn't buy the plans, just looked at photos and talked to a couple guys.

It has a 70 lb head and really works great. It eats a lot of air, but as long as a compressor can keep up, it works perfect.
 
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A little grinding on the forged blade. Got my big mug in the way. Should fire the photographer....


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Profiling the edge.


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Quenching the blade. You always want to keep the propane tank as close as possible to the fire source. This way, death, if it's going to come will be fast and painless. Hopefully.


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And this is the blade, rough ground, heat treated and tempered. Ready to start finishing. You can just barely see the pattern in the steel.
 
you should put clear handles on it so you can see the steel there, too.
Just joking, kind of.
 
The display is well done, Burt, and the stages photographed
are cleverly chosen - not what is usually seen from the makers.

Once you finish the knife you could create a truly exciting display
by arranging the pictures together on two double spreads...

If you don't mind, I'll gladly do it for you and post it at the
end of the process...

All the best,
David Darom (ddd)
 
My hunger for the damascus unveiling must rival the euphoria of politicians staging to spend 1.1 trillion dollars.

Yes, Burt, I too am a disciple of Luke 22:36 and willing to suffer a trade of my robe for one of your swords (or integral hunters) to comply with Scripture.

ken
 
This is the coolest WIP! I LOVE every minute of it.

"You always want to keep the propane tank as close as possible to the fire source. This way, death, if it's going to come will be fast and painless. Hopefully."

OMG, that made me LOL.
 
Yes, Burt, I too am a disciple of Luke 22:36 and willing to suffer a trade of my robe for one of your swords (or integral hunters) to comply with Scripture.
Click to expand...

Nice, Ken! I do need a new robe.... :D

David, that would be fine with me. You're a wizard with making collages of images, so whatever you could do would be far better than what I'd come up with. When we're all done, I'll get you all the images. Thanks!
 
81.jpg

Initial flattening of the tang.


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Using the contact wheel to grind a hollow in the center of the tang.


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This makes it easier to get the tang totally flat and it helps the handle material sit flat on the steel rather than being held up just a little bit by the epoxy.


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I'm using the disc grinder to flatten the tang, and the ricasso / spine area.


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The tang and spine have been flattened and sanded on the disc grinder to 600 grit.


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Finish grinding the blade bevels.


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The bevels are finished on the disc grinder down to 600 grit before hand finishing.

Between the first set of photos and the second set, I added a dust collector to the grinders and the buffer. It does make a nice difference. Maybe I'll live long enough to be killed by that propane tank after all.
 
Burt Foster said:
81.jpg

Initial flattening of the tang.


82.jpg

Using the contact wheel to grind a hollow in the center of the tang.


83.jpg

This makes it easier to get the tang totally flat and it helps the handle material sit flat on the steel rather than being held up just a little bit by the epoxy.


84.jpg

I'm using the disc grinder to flatten the tang, and the ricasso / spine area.


85.jpg

The tang and spine have been flattened and sanded on the disc grinder to 600 grit.


86.jpg

Finish grinding the blade bevels.


88.jpg

The bevels are finished on the disc grinder down to 600 grit before hand finishing.

Between the first set of photos and the second set, I added a dust collector to the grinders and the buffer. It does make a nice difference. Maybe I'll live long enough to be killed by that propane tank after all.
Click to expand...
Bladesmithing just ain't the same without those black boogers, Burt!:D
 
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