First pattern welded billet completed!

D

deker

Joined
Nov 14, 2005
Messages
3,496
This evening I took my 1084/15N20 billet to 56 layers, twisted it, and hammered it back flat. I just knocked the scale off the end and it's in the FeCl now.

Wouldn't it figure that my wife it out of town and has the camera with her? :grumpy:

Maybe I'll try laying it on the scanner after it comes out of the etch.....

I'm like a kid on Christmas...again...and it's not even Christmas yet.... :D

I'll update with pics (hopefully) in about 15-20 minutes.

I just wanted to take a second to thank everybody here for their knowledge and advice. I'm pretty sure since I paid attention, took my time, and didn't skimp on surface prep that there is not a single weld flaw in this billet. I had 2 occations where a small de-lamination started, but I caught them early, fluxed them up and welded them back in.

Also, a special thanks to Bruce Bump for trading me some steel and feeding me some advice and inspiration. Thanks again Bruce!!!!

-d
 
Sorry, I underestimated the time it would take to get the scanner working for the first time...

Here's a couple of scans of one end after the quick test etch. I'm etching it again now. It looks like one slight de-lam at the end ran into the billet a little on the twist, but it's only about 7/8" I have to lose to cut it off if I can get it to weld back in. The pockmark on the other side isn't a flaw, just a bit of scale that didn't get ground all the way out.

twist2.jpg


twist1.jpg


And here's the design for my EDC that I plan to make out of part of this billet (please pardon the crappy art on my part and the eraser bits stuck to the page :) ):

EDCSketch.jpg



More after the second etch...I'm going deeper this time...

And after the second etch:

twist4.jpg


twist3.jpg


-d
 
Very good first billet deker. On a pattern welded billet, I always consider an 1'' or so on each end to be trash and just cut them off. You most likely have the bug pretty bad now :D
 
sunfishman said:
Very good first billet deker. On a pattern welded billet, I always consider an 1'' or so on each end to be trash and just cut them off. You most likely have the bug pretty bad now :D
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You got that right....There's another in the shop already started. :D I ended up finishing this from the twist with a hand hammer. I finally got a proper motor on the power hammer, and using it caused the old wooden tire on the pulley of the hammer to start to seperate and come off. I have to strip it off and see if I can run without it or not.

Man, I don't want to go to work tomorrow...I want to be in the forge! :mad:

-d
 
Soon you will keep a notebook by the bed to wake up and jot down notes about patterns from dreams in the dark of the night. :eek:

"Damascus disease" ;)

Congratulations on your first billet!:thumbup:
 
cool deal dek
cant wait to see whats next and to see that blade of yours done
let me know about heat treat as next week i l be back at it hard core again
 
butcher_block said:
cool deal dek
cant wait to see whats next and to see that blade of yours done
let me know about heat treat as next week i l be back at it hard core again
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If I can get some more time in the forge I may get that one forged out and ground. Right now I'm thinking ebony for the scales, but we'll have to see how the pattern comes out in the finished blade.

fitzo said:
Soon you will keep a notebook by the bed to wake up and jot down notes about patterns from dreams in the dark of the night.
Click to expand...

Where do you think that knife design came from? :D

-d
 
Looking good, if knifemaking is addictive, damascus is like crack, your hooked from the start!:thumbup:
 
Deker, It looks real good for the first one. Im proud of ya and happy to have helped. Youre unstopable now.
 
Very nice deker. I welded my first billet up with no help about a month ago. Here is a picture of a piece off the end of mine. I decided on raindrop for my first, being afraid to try twisting so soon.
 
scottickes said:
Very nice deker. I welded my first billet up with no help about a month ago. Here is a picture of a piece off the end of mine. I decided on raindrop for my first, being afraid to try twisting so soon.
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Very cool! I thought about doing a raindrop, but I like kind of low layer count twists a lot, so I said "what the heck?!" How many layers is yours? It looks like a pretty high layer count.

-d
 
I started with 15 layers and folded it 3 times. Resulted in 120 layers. I made a low layer count twist before that raindrop, but had help from a local knifemaker, so it wasn't "my" first.

The twist is 60 layer. I forged it to a 3/4" square bar, after the initial foldings. I then cut it into four pieces and twisted two of them clock wise and I twisted the other two counter clock wise. I was able to get it to four twists per inch. I then stacked them alternately resulting in a herringbone gear look with the twists going back and forth in opposite directions. It's way cool, and I am doing the handle work on the first hunter that I forged from it! As I said, since I didn't make it alone, but had help I don't consider it my first welded billet. I'll post a picture of that knife when I get done with it.
 
scottickes said:
I started with 15 layers and folded it 3 times. Resulted in 120 layers. I made a low layer count twist before that raindrop, but had help from a local knifemaker, so it wasn't "my" first.

The twist is 60 layer. I forged it to a 3/4" square bar, after the initial foldings. I then cut it into four pieces and twisted two of them clock wise and I twisted the other two counter clock wise. I was able to get it to four twists per inch. I then stacked them alternately resulting in a herringbone gear look with the twists going back and forth in opposite directions. It's way cool, and I am doing the handle work on the first hunter that I forged from it! As I said, since I didn't make it alone, but had help I don't consider it my first welded billet. I'll post a picture of that knife when I get done with it.
Click to expand...

Forget waiting for the whole thing to be done, let's see that pattern! It sounds seriously cool.

-d
 
Unfortunately, I'm in Montana on a business trip. I don't have any pictures on my laptop of that knife.
The knife has been ground, drilled for pins, differentially hardened (thanks to Ed Caffrey and Ed Fowler on how to heat treat this steel, two very informative and wonderful knifemakers), triple tempered, and I have the Mokume bolsters on and pinned. The handle scales will be attached this weekend.
 
scottickes said:
Unfortunately, I'm in Montana on a business trip. I don't have any pictures on my laptop of that knife.
The knife has been ground, drilled for pins, differentially hardened (thanks to Ed Caffrey and Ed Fowler on how to heat treat this steel, two very informative and wonderful knifemakers), triple tempered, and I have the Mokume bolsters on and pinned. The handle scales will be attached this weekend.
Click to expand...

Alright....we'll let 'ya slide....this time ;)

Have a good trip!

-d
 
Very cool stuff!! Makes me want to get he press finished and running.
 
Burchtree said:
Very cool stuff!! Makes me want to get he press finished and running.
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Makes me want a press :D I've caught the disease for sure....I'd love to have a press for some ideas I have where I want to minimize distortion of the pattern....

-d
 
Little update here. I forged out my EDC blade, ground it flat and test etched it. Here's the pictures :)

As forged:

asforged.jpg


And with a grind to 80 grit and a quick etch:

TestEtch1.jpg


TestEtch2.jpg


I decided to grind on the bevel rather than forging it in to give up a little more of the pattern.

Almost going to be a shame to put handle scales on it :)

-d
 
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