For the Oregon Show, a special grain structure

Ed Fowler

Ed Fowler

Joined
Jul 21, 2001
Messages
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In another thread there is a lot of debate concerning multiple quench and what some consider unorthodox thermal cycles and forging methods.

I will have a very special knife at the Oregon Show. It has already been sold to a very special cleint, I am not trying to advertise on this post.

I will have a blade with a grain structure that was brought out using the ultimate extreme (at this time) of our methods. I invite those of you who will be there to come visit her at my table. We were going to disect her to explain what happened, this is what usually happens to the first special blade.

This time she was so special we decided to let her be a knife like no other and do some metalurgical autopsies on others who follow, if I can make another. She is going to Eugene for photos and discussion. All are invited and discussion will be welcome.
 
I will see her and you there Ed. A fine grained lady always gets my attention even if she is a knife. :)
 
Hey Ed: This is off topic BUT I wanted to thank you for the article on our buddy Rob... We were all deeply moved.. Thanks man.
 
Ed,I would love to meet you and the guys there and see that knife, but the show might as well be at the far side of the moon, right now. Double dang!Hey,you lucky show goers have a grand time! You are going to post some pictures later?
 
I'm with John, there's no way I'll be able to make that show. I surely wish I could examine that lady though. Hope everyone has a good time.
 
I'd love to be there also but I can't imagine how I could manage it. I really do hope to meet you some day though. I have had several people in my life who have shaped many of my ideas. I rank you among the greats along with Elmer Keith and Jack Oconner, both of whom I was able to spend a small amount of time. They were part of a different sport but you all have been mentors to many of us!
 
Thanks to My good friend Phil here is a link that will provide a picture of the blade. My photo was not great, am still learning how to use the new phto booth. In the photo you can see 11 transition zones from hard to soft. In the hard zone you can see small crystaline formations.

This blade performed at outstanding levels, cut and edge flex set new records in my shop. At this time I feel it represents my greatest achievement to date. I was torn between wanting to disect her and find out what she was and keep her as a trophy. Rex and I decided it would be best to let her shine as she is and disect future blades if and when I can duplicate her.

50025838.jpg

de.
 
Thank you gentlemen for your kind comments.

Peter, I also admired Elmer Keith, as one of the all time greats, and am greatly honored that you mention me in the same paragraph with his name and thoughts he provided.

We have invested what is for us many thousands of dollars into the search for high performance knives. When ever a man sticks his neck out talking about thoughts that diverge from tradition he takes some flack. Comments lke yours make it all worthwhile.

Thanks Friends and Take Care
 
Ed, your name sure does belong with the greats, as Peter says. Elmer Keith would have liked knowing you,too. You know, you are going to keep us on the edge of our chairs until you give us the particulars on the steel and just what you did. I can see why you want to wait until after the show, though. Beautiful blade,Ed.
 
Mr. Fowler,
Like a few others, I ,regretfully, won't be able to make the Oregon show. Will you be giving a lecture on this beautiful lady at Blade this June? I should be there, and would love to learn about this blade.

Thanks,
Todd
 
ed,

that knife looks amazing just as she is. The transition lines, the various other "activities' in the blade, simply awesome. I bet she perfroms at least as good as she looks! Wish I could be there to chat metallurgy with ya. I recently picked up a book on heat treating and a book on microscopic analysis of steel. So, this post is of much interest to me. I can fully recommend to anyone interested in the work Mr. Fowler is doing (pushing the envelope), to pick up books on steel and have a good read. The more you read, the more you will be amazed at what Ed is trying to do. Ferrite, Austenite, Marensite, Pearlite, Bainite... steel is such a wonderful, amazing thing!

Keep up the good work Ed!
 
The knife is already sold, I will ask the gentleman who owns her if I can take her to The Blade Show, he was willing to let her go to Oregon. . He has not held her yet and may not wish to let her go for a few weeks. The topic for Blade Show will be "The Natural Knife", I believe she would fit in to the discussion. Again, thanks for the kind words.
 
Ed,
Beautiful lines!! Call me crazy, but when I see these temper lines on your knives it reminds me of the subtle lines of clouds in a blue sky... something special for sure!
Interesting, I cannot remember seeing any of your past knives with the crystalline formations in the hardened area of the blade, specifically. Is that something new with this knife?
David
 
When I look at that blade I see not only a nice blade, but a blade that is designed to CUT and HOLD AN EDGE, two of the most important aspects of a custom knife IMHO.
It is neat using a blade that will just keep on cutting and cutting and sharpen up in a minute or so.
 
Ed, the "dots" on the blade?

Is that just a camara thingy?...is it just my computer screen and not on the real blade?...if so then okay...

The reason I ask is that I have noticed "dots" on blades I made when I "cold oil" dunked a few of my blades right out of the forge as I was doing the tang.

I never noticed my "blade dots" until I etched the blade. They ran along the cutting edge about 1/4 to 1/2 the way up the sides. I was able to both re-grind and then buff out the dots so that I can hardly see them now.

I had posted about the "dots" on Blade Forums, and got back a few answers but I never felt I understood what caused them?
 
I'll be there
ED I got a hold of your hand for a short moment at blade last
year but you seemed pretty busy. :( so I went about my business maybe this year
we can kick a rock around for a short time. :) I'm just visiting again this year.
I may take the JS next year. nice looking stuff on that blade, interesting to say the least.
 
The dots, on the blade, I believe, are raised crystaline structures. Their size is not great. I cannot measure their height with my micrometer. Many years ago I saw similar structures on an ancient Japanese blade. The curator of the museum stated they were indicative of high quality steel, pushed to the limit, only achieved by supreme bladesmiths. I after many experiments I was able to dublicate the same visual representation by working up a blade forged from a railroad spike. I do not know how knowledgable the curator was, but his comments left an impression on my mind.

Last summer I was working on a continuation of all the experiments of the last 25 years. Everything was falling in place, then the wheels fell off.!!

The lab spent several months trying to explain what happened, we came up with some thoughts, then I went back to the remaining steel on that billet, did some work to correct the variable we think was responsabile, then started over again with the remaining steel. This blade is the result of that effort.

This blade may very well be the supreme achievement I have been seeking.
We were building our new shop, then I was moving in while I worked on the blade and my notes got lost in the shuffel. I now I have to duplicate it with better record of the variables, I believe that I can do it, but it will take time. Once we can make another or several more they will be fodder for the men of the science of metals.

After the Blade show in June I plan to give it my best effort. The experimental design follows what I wrote up in Knives 2002 and the thoughts are reprinted in my book Knife Talk II in the article about wootz.

I may get there again, and I may never be able to make another blade with the structure as defined by the etch. I have been there once, maybe that will have to be enough for me and another bladesmith to work for.

I have completed the knife, will try to engrave it and get another and better photo taken. I am also working on my photo booth. The photo above is not very descriptive, hopefully I can do better. I have pushed other blades to high degrees of refinement and transition zones, blades pushed this far have very few folks to understand them, but they still intrigue me.

There is no end of the frontiers for those who seek to explore the art of the high performance blade, I absolutely believe it is an art and when high levels are achieved, it is the turn of science to explain what happened.
 
Ed Fowler said:
I have completed the knife, will try to engrave it and get another and better photo taken. I am also working on my photo booth. The photo above is not very descriptive, hopefully I can do better.
Click to expand...

I of course haven't seen this blade, but I did work with Ed on the pics he took of it. I think that the dots must be very subtle on the actual blade and would be very difficult to photograph.

For those interested I have a High-Resolution version of the same pic as above, and I can email you a copy. Just so you know the pic is a 300dpi .PSD (Photoshop document), and the file size is 13.2M, so it's rather large. Just send me an email requesting a copy.
 
Ed,

Can you give us a follow-up on this blade and the showing of it at the Oregon Show?


Phil - I would like a copy of the pic. Any chance you can cut it into smaller packets using WinRar? (say, 3MB ea.) If not, would you be wiling to make a cropped image for me? One of the ricasso area, one of the belly at its fullest. (same dpi, smaller pic)
 
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