Damascus Mistake??

3

30-30 Cal.

Joined
Jan 1, 2004
Messages
243
Hello All,

I'm not a knife maker. Wanted to make that clear from the start. anyway, here's the deal. I bought a knife blank from Damascus-USA (and was very pleased at the quality). I put a great stag handle on it with nice brass-work. However, I polished the blade to a mirror shine. This resulted in losing the clear damascus pattern. The blade now resembles a japanese samarai sword. By that I mean the damascus pattern in still there, the grain and swirls are clearly visible, but are now more discreet. I think it looks really nice. But, after looking at a lot of pictures of damascus knifes, I haven't seen any that have treated a blade this way.\

Question. Did I make a mistake in the way I treated this blade?

Thanks,

Dave
 
I think the idea of owning or making of a modern damascus knife,is the blade should show as much of the pattern as possible.IMO
Randy
 
Yes, you polished off the pattern, and it will not look very damascus like, unless you re etch it.
 
Hi Dave,

Not at all a problem.
To treat the Damascus, to bring out the contrasts again, go buy a bottle of Ferric Chloride at Radio Shack.

Mix a 50-50 solution with water, enough of it in a jar just large enough to be able to immerse the exposed Damascus in the solution.
Before placing the damascus in the solution, you don't want to "treat" the brass or stag in the ferric chloride.... so recommend
you coat the brass with nail polish...I like to use clear...and be sure you don't get any ferric chloride on the stag..You can later remove the nail polish with acetone, which is the active ingredient in nail polish remover.

Submerge the damascus in the ferric chloride solution...try it for 5 minutes, then rinse in water...how does it look?, if not deep enough, another 5 minutes, rinse look at, continue until you have a deep enough etch in the steel that you like the contrast and differentation of the metals' depths. Just be sure you have protected the brass and stag from the ferric chloride solution.
The stuff is corrosive enough to eat steel to cause the different colors and depths of different metals.
As the ferric chloride solution is good for a long life of usage, if you know a knifemaker near you, it would be more economical to ask him/her to let you use their solution and provide a bit of oversight of your efforts as well.
You can buff this again and remove the color contrasts and leave a less differentiated depth of the metals...the choice is yours. If you leave a good portion of the color differentation on the blade, coat with a good coat of wax...Renaissance Wax is a fine wax...and one damascus maker I know recommends SC Johnson paste wax (yellow tin with red stripe on it) that you can get at the hardware store...I especially like this on non-srtainless Damascus with high contrast..seems to almost "soak in" to the metal. then lightly hand buff the waxed Damascus to a shine.
Good Luck,
 
There are countless ways to etch and polish a damascus blade. Ultimately what it comes down to (in my very humble opinion) is what you find most visually appealing. The performance of the blade comes from it's steel content, the integrity and cleanliness of the welds, and the heat-treatment. The finish is largely superficial, and since beauty is in the eye of the beholder, this is a question only you can truly answer.
 
Gosh, I was getting depressed until John posted. Thanks, John! I'll certainly use your advice.

Dave
 
Wulf,

I posted my reply before I saw your post. it's nice to know there is such artistic freedom in the world of knife making (not that I am one!). I think a bit of my brother washed off on me when I did this, as he is hand polishs Japanese Samarai swords with various stones.

Thanks,
Dave

By the way, what do you call a person who does not make the blade, but does all the other customizing? A knife customizer?
 
If you want to see a damascus blade that has been polished so the etch is subdued (but still visible) look at Michael Burch's "Element Fighter" in the exchange section. I own this knife, and I really like the subtle pattern. I'll take some photos today if I can.
 
You need to pay attention to John about coating the guard and handle with clear nail polish!!! Ask me how I know!
 
Bad, couldn't find it. The exchange is a big forum. Please do post some pictures.

Beretta, pretty bad, huh? Funny, the ferric chloride can eat metal, but not nail polish.

Dave
 
Dave, yes, I got some fc on a nickel silver guard and it certaintly dulled it. Bugged me at first, but what the heck I use the custom anyway. IMHO, ferric chloride is the best etcher on the market for doing carbon blades.
 
My Thanks to John. I eched the blade last night, following his directions, and it turned out perfect.

Dave
 
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