Damascus: shock, envy, itch

R

rashid11

Joined
Dec 8, 2005
Messages
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I am a hobby KM, working out of my garage, in a townhouse,
miles from Manhattan. Not many of us here :( , in the area.
Just a hobby.


Still, even in the confined space I got, there isn't much I can not
do. Got me tools galore, over course of few years and am a happy
camper. Home made oven, home made belt grinder . I can pretty much do any
removal type knife - limited only by me skills. These are improving,
slowly, but surely. All everything I do is completely in house (NPI), no outsourcing here :) . I like it like that.

But, one thing I can not do is make my own Damascus. Simply
no way :(

And I was fine with this sad reality till I visited knife show
in NYC, 2 weeks ago .

The variety and beauty of Damascus blades there simply was
unbeleivable. The patterns just outta this world. And I don't
think I saw many high-end non-Damascus blades, outside of few
Loveless' masterpieces.

Surely enough, most of the collector-knife-makers don't do their
own Damascus but buy it instead. Rightfully so.

Still buying a piece of Damascus steel and making a knife out of it,
just doesn't appeal to me. Almost as if I bought a knife kit and fit
a handle on. Not the same feeling ...

Well, I went to the show looking for inspiration and got plenty of that.

Wish there was a community forge :) type of deal: walk in with your
steel, pay $20 for a couple of hours and propane you use and hammer
away :D
 
Have you checked to see how close the nearest ABANA chapter is, Rashid? My other thought is, have you checked Knives 2006 to see who may be close by and checked to see if any of them are damascus makers? Might be someone would let you work in there smithy once in awhile.
 
You can build a forge for less then $100 that will let you pattern weld. I don't have a press but I still hand hammer out billets. It takes about a week to get a 72 layer billet. three, two hour hammer sessions and you got a billet. I never thought I could either until I gave it a shot.

Go watch someone do it, there are just a few things to learn and a certain process to follow. It is not rocket science, they were doing it over a thousand years ago.

I have offered to show alot of smiths and knifemakers the process and most of them are too intimidated. If you are allready forging blades then it does not take any more room to pattern weld.

Did I mention you don't need a press or power hammer?
 
Rashid, i just talked to the owner of a blacksmith shop in port jervis ny yesterday.I told him i was currently looking for a power hammer session/rental.He told me there is a place kindof like a museum village with a running smithy...triphamer and all,he also told me there is a knifemaker that rents time there a couple of months a year to make billets :) Now heres where i goofed i was so hopped up to talk to someone in my town that even knows what damascus is i forgot the name of the park :o i tried looking under the nys park svc web site but i didnt see any thing.
Give me a week or so and i can find out more info. i need to start networking more the only blacksmith i know lives all the way in texas.
Oh yeah me and the mrs. will be searching for a house soon if things go good for me i'll have a nice sized shop and a hammer in party keep your fingers crossed for me.
 
I know it's been mentioned before, but check out the ABANA website. If you happen to have an ABANA chapter near you, it's one of the best ways possible to meet other folks, and oftentimes find a place to do some forging. At least around here, the historic farm parks and such that have a blacksmith shop will have a deal with the local guild they host for use of forge facilities. In my case I can go demonstrate in the historic forge anytime the museum is open. Sure, I have to wear something 1850-ish (bib overalls work) and not mind talking to people when they come through, but you can't beat the free shop time!

-d
 
Valimas, you must be thinking about Museum Village in Monroe NY 845-782-8247. There is, BTW, a sword maker in Orange Co - www.odinblades.com . Do I assume correctly that you are new to this area ??
 
I grew up in orange county I just recently jumped into smithing with both feet(should have checked how deep the water was ;) ) over the summer and never really thought about visiting local makers,aside from the rennaisanse fair.
Funny you should mention Museum Village....I did some volunteer work there and If the curator is the same i might be able to get some shop time over there.I'm not sure if they have a power hammer other than the HUGE one for pig iron:D Ill bet that thing can crank out some billets.
 
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