First Damascus, did it fail?

S

SFI_Slyfox

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Sep 24, 2013
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Hay everyone, I believe this is my first time posting here. Anyways I just managed to find a spot for my forge again and tried my first time at making a damascus knife. As the title suggests a problem occurred and I'm assuming a weld failed during the quench. There will be a picture down below. However I'm not entirely certain. Before the heat treat the blade was nice and smooth off the grinder. After I pulled it out of the oil though it had this crevasse on one side. However during the quench there was no ping sound that usually accompanies a failed weld. So as I'm personally new to this could anyone give an opinion about what has happened?

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Looks like a delamination. It also could be where scale was forged in the fold ( called an inclusion). It doesn't sow up sometimes until the quench. You can try to grind past it and hope, but if it doesn't go away, either make a smaller blade or start again.
 
That looks like an inclusion, from its breadth and texture. Before I tried to grind it out I'd dig at it a little with an awl or somesuch-you can always shorten it, but if it's too deep and you keep grinding you may not save it.
I have a couple of personal knives that I really like that are the results of this "grinding out the cold shut" business.
 
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It isn't the prettiest repair, but you can grind out the inclusion or bad weld with a small thin disc and then weld it back with either TIG or MIG. Grind off the excess metal, run a stress relief cycle, and HT as normal. It will be usable then. This is often the only option beyond chucking a hundred dollars in damascus in the trash barrel.

If any open welds or inclusions show up before you have the blade almost finished, you can TRY to re-weld it in the forge. Clean out the split and bring up to full welding heat. Work the bad spot firmly, but not overly hard. Give it a few cycles and then grind it clean to see how it went. This is where using hydrocarbon flu will really be good.
 
Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith said:
It isn't the prettiest repair, but you can grind out the inclusion or bad weld with a small thin disc and then weld it back with either TIG or MIG. Grind off the excess metal, run a stress relief cycle, and HT as normal. It will be usable then. This is often the only option beyond chucking a hundred dollars in damascus in the trash barrel.

If any open welds or inclusions show up before you have the blade almost finished, you can TRY to re-weld it in the forge. Clean out the split and bring up to full welding heat. Work the bad spot firmly, but not overly hard. Give it a few cycles and then grind it clean to see how it went. This is where using hydrocarbon flu will really be good.
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Would that work with an oxyacetylene weld? (My generator won't run a welder worth a damn).
 
I don't think so....but one of the welding chaps here might have a more definitive answer.

You do know that a knife blade is pretty portable ? ( and so are most TIG/MIG welders) You can take a blade to a friend with a welder, or take the blade and a welder to a friend who has power.
 
Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith said:
I don't think so....but one of the welding chaps here might have a more definitive answer.

You do know that a knife blade is pretty portable ? ( and so are most TIG/MIG welders) You can take a blade to a friend with a welder, or take the blade and a welder to a friend who has power.
Click to expand...
Haha touché. good point. Never did it because I never considered welding a flaw before-if it didn't grind out it got folded into another billet or chucked (or made into something I would carry and beat on to see what it was capable of).
 
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