Damascus fighter WIP Professional pictures added!

[Salem Straub]

Sweeeet billet, Phillip. Probably all drawn out on that new hammer, must be nice having that to speed things up now...

 

[Phillip Patton]

Sweeeet billet, Phillip. Probably all drawn out on that new hammer, must be nice having that to speed things up now...

Yep, it's very nice. It goes about twice as fast now. :thumbup:

 

[Diamond J Knives]

Awesome looking fighter! I like the recurve and shape to the edge, and swage grind, as well as the curve to the handle. very appealing!

 

[Railrider1920]

Sweeeet billet, Phillip. Probably all drawn out on that new hammer, must be nice having that to speed things up now...

I was just going to ask about how you were working it. Is it even possible to do something like this by hand and have it come out correct?

 

[John Frankl]

Keep em coming.

Those are some very tight, very even twists.

 

[Phillip Patton]

Just realized I never really explained what's going on in the photos. A lot of twisting, obviously, but here are some more specifics:

The billet is made up of 4 bars, each with 100 layers. Two bars are twisted clockwise, the other two counterclockwise. Each bar has 16 full twists. Then all four are welded together, so that clockwise bars are diagonal from each other, and so are the counterclockwise bars. Then the resulting bar is twisted clockwise 9 times. Then it's forged flat.

I'm hoping I'll feel good enough today to forge the blade...

 

[Salem Straub]

I hope so too.

 

[Phillip Patton]

Here's what it looks like after soaking in HCL for a couple days:

After angle grinding down to bare metal:

After cleaning up on the belt grinder:

I want to make sure the billet is flawless before I waste the effort forging a blade... Looks good so far!

 

[Phillip Patton]

Well, I think today's the day for forging. But first, I need to make an aluminum template, which I did yesterday:

I also welded a sturdier handle onto the billet:

 

[Phillip Patton]

Some pics of the forging:

It's not quite done yet. I'll finish it next time I have the forge fired up...

 

[Phillip Patton]

Finished forging the blade today, and also thermal cycled it, and then ground it. Just have to file the guard shoulders and stamp my mark on it, then it's ready for heat treat.

 

[Phillip Patton]

 

[Phillip Patton]

 

[rannalf]

Man, that thing is looking wicked! I can't wait to see what it looks like when you are done.

 

[Phillip Patton]

Yesterday I heat treated the blade, and this morning I re-ground it. I started to hand sand it, and decided it could use a little more tempering, so it's back in the oven now.

Here it is after hardening:

Hardness testing:

Re-grinding the ricasso and tang:

Beveling the edge prior to grinding the blade:

Re-ground with a 60 grit Blaze belt:

Ground with a 240 grit belt:

The blade in my hand sanding setup:

A quick etch after a little sanding with 400 grit paper:

 

[Don Hanson III]

Lookin very good Phillip!

 

[Phillip Patton]

Lookin very good Phillip!

Thanks, Don! So far, so good. Still time to mess it up though.


Here's what I've got done so far today:

Hand sanded the blade to 400 grit:

Here it is after etching for 10 minutes:

Then I sand the blade with 800 grit paper:

Then etch 10 more minutes and sand with 1000 grit paper:

 

[Deweyknives]

Great pattern in that steel. Even better than I had expected, and I knew it was going to be good!! Thanks for taking the time to share!

 

[Phillip Patton]

Ok, I etched the blade a total of three times for 10 minutes each. After the third etch, I rubbed the blade with the used 1000 grit paper from before, and then buffed it very carefully with green compound. It's easy to wash out the grind lines with the buffer. Also, the buffing compound tends to stick to a cold blade, so I warmed it (the blade) up on my wood stove first.

It turned out pretty well.

Now for fitting the guard. I'm using 416 for this one.

I grind it clean and flat on the disc sander, then coat one side with layout dye, then lay out the holes that will start the slot:

Holes drilled:

Webbing removed with a round file:

Squaring up the slot:

Just about there:

Close enough:

Now I peen the edges of the slot. This guarantees a tight, gap free fit.

 

[Phillip Patton]

I hammer the guard against the shoulders, and file off any material the keeps it from seating:

Now I lay out a couple lines which will help me keep everything symmetrical as I shape the guard:

I use a washer to make the round lines at the ends of the guard:

The lines are just guides though. I grind it until it looks right. It'll be shaped more after the handle block is attached.

Now I draw in the approximate location of the curves of the "wings". Again, more will be removed later, but I like to take most of it off now because hogging generates a lot of heat.