Dumb question regarding damascus making

Danbo

Danbo

Joined
Nov 28, 1999
Messages
14,985
I have no welder, nor do I have a power hammer or hydraulic press. I already KNOW any damascus making is going to be a lot of hard work for me in my shop, with my little gas forge, anvil and 2 lb hammer. But, I also know it can be done, so I'm gonna try some kind of low layer billet in the near future. Question I have is, how do I keep the pieces together, while I put them in the forge? Some kind of wire twisted around them? And, what kind of wire?
 
Jim Hrisoulas uses bailing wire as shown in his book "The Pattern-Welded Blade". Sounds like you will have your work cut-out for you on using only hammer and anvil. Good luck and posts photos of your WIP.
 
I use plain, uncoated steel fencing wire. Its 1/16"diameter and easily twistable.
As it's heated, it can loosen as the wire expands, so to keep the wire and
layers from getting out of position, I notch the top and bottom layers, where the
wire will be.
 
Danbo get in touch with Ray Kirk. He is stocking 1095 in .072 by 1 1/2 inch pieces and also has 15n20 available. It is a lot easer to stack and weld and saves having to reduce bar stock down to thinner sizes for appearance.
I know some that used to use the thin 1095 with some nickel sheet and weld together then pattern and thin down to knife size with only one weld.
Get you a three pound hammer.
 
You are going to have a lot of fun Dan and sore arms. When I first tried it I used the wire method and it worked. Not the best way but it will work. Ray's idea of the notches sounds really good, and get a larger hammer.
Brion
 
Get yourself an old stick welder through Craigslist. I tried the wire method and quickly decided the welder was worth it....

And like the others said, get a bigger hammer. You're a big guy, you should be able handle at least a 4 pounder. :)
 
Phillip Patton said:
Get yourself an old stick welder through Craigslist. I tried the wire method and quickly decided the welder was worth it....

And like the others said, get a bigger hammer. You're a big guy, you should be able handle at least a 4 pounder. :)
Click to expand...

+1
Dan, I can handle a 6 pounder, just don't go crazy.
Give me a call and I can walk you through the process.
Del

www.ealyknives.com
 
I was at a hammer in and Don Fogg stated that when he made damascus before having a power hammer, he did one fold and draw first thing in the morning when he lit the forge. At the end of the week you have a completed billet without wearing yourself out on long sessions. Just a thought.
 
Aldo sells 1084 and precut 15N20. I did a damascus billet once without access to a welder by stacking the cut pieces on a long piece of 1084 which was going to be the bottom layer, I didn't have any wire available so i heated the bar a little, put flux on it, heated it more to melt the flux, built up the layers by repeating that until I had 5 layers, brought it up to welding heat, then gently set the center with one *gentle* hammer strike, put it back in the fire and started setting the first weld from the center out in a spiral pattern of GENTLE strikes. Once I had it drawn out enough to fold, I forged the end of a bar into a wedge, and welded it into the first fold, when the billet was done, the handle weld got cut out as sacrificial material. It is easier if you can arc weld the stack and arc it to a handle, but you can get by without

-Page
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top