I've done about 20 billets of Damascus, with no major failures once I got the process figured out. I had something new happen, where an apparent bubble popped up in the middle of the face of the billet, near the end of the process. We were ate 52 layers, and the billet was about 2" wide, 12" long, and 3/8" thick when the bubble formed. It was in the middle of the billet on the flat face.
I had a guy there who had done most of the work on this one. I suspect he was doing something subtly different than my usual process.
What makes these mid-billet bubbles?
Either way, I helped him lay out a workaround to salvage the billet by grinding out the bubble and making that part of the billet into the tips of two blades, with the tangs at the outer ends.
I had a guy there who had done most of the work on this one. I suspect he was doing something subtly different than my usual process.
What makes these mid-billet bubbles?
Either way, I helped him lay out a workaround to salvage the billet by grinding out the bubble and making that part of the billet into the tips of two blades, with the tangs at the outer ends.
