Damascus HT

[The_Dave]

Here's a question I've been wondering about for a while:

How does one heat treat damascus steel? We all know it's composed of both high-carbon and stainless steel... Since my experience is limited to the relatively simple heat treating process of high carbon steel, I was wondering exactly how it's done when there's stainless and HC in the same blade.

Might have been answered before, I just haven't seen it!

Thanks
Dave

 

[Dan Pierson]

According to the steels it's made of.

Most damascus is not a combination of high-carbon and stainless steel. For typical
combinations such as 1084/15N20 and O1/L6, correct heat treatment is the heat
treatment of the component steels. It is NOT a coincidence that both of the
components in these popular mixtures like the same heat treatment.

 

[The_Dave]

Yowza... Smacked down already!

I had 15n20 in mind when I talked about stainless but if I had actually done the research rather than ASSuming I knew what's what, I'd have had my answer. Thanks Dan!

 

[deker]

Yowza... Smacked down already!

I had 15n20 in mind when I talked about stainless but if I had actually done the research rather than ASSuming I knew what's what, I'd have had my answer. Thanks Dan!

15n20 isn't stainless, it just has some nickel in it so that it resists the etching.

You do bring up a good topic that I don't believe gets enough coverage in conversation. It is of prime importance that the alloys that are selected to make any pattern welded steel are heat treat compatible. There are some folks out there that throw all kinds of "not really so compatible" stuff into billets. It may work well enough (many of these guys are highly respected makers), but you won't get the best possible performance if you mix steels willy-nilly with no consideration to the heat treatment required.

Ok, I'm done ranting

-d