Forging bends in damascus billet

quint

quint

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Nov 29, 2011
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Wanted to ask before I screwed anything up. So I would like to put a bend in a blade I plan on working on from a damascus billet. Figured the best way to do this without water quench is to shape the blade for the most part then take it to the forge and careful form a slight bend to it, check flatness, then cool and go to the grinder to finish up the bevels and what not.

Is this how guys do it when they dont make there own damascus? I think it will be fine but dont want to totally ruin the pattern.

Thanks for any suggestions and input.
 
Never done it with damascus, but I have done it with stock removal blades. I use a hardwood round as the anvil to avoid leaving big dents or rolled edges in the bent portion. Also use a hardwood "billy club," for lack of a better term, to straighten without leaving hammer marks.


-Xander
 
Thanks Xander that sounds like it will work. Have heard about doing that for straightening blades should of thought of it for doing this.

Thanks.
 
If you're doing a trailing point or up swept blade, I would bend it before grinding the bevels. Be sure to secure the hardwood "anvil" so it doesn't bounce when you whack it. Also it will likely catch a small flame, do be safe and aware.


-Xander
 
Do the bend before you grind the bevels. Complete the profile and tang, bend to shape then grind the bevels.
 
Yeah, unless there's something wrong with the material, you can forge it pretty much as usual.
It will distort the pattern as you'd expect, but slight upsweep shouldn't be a problem. In fact, I'd expect the bend in the pattern will compliment the new shape. If you draw it out or try to make one portion wider than the rest by forging it thiner, it might not be good for the pattern. Kinda depends on what the pattern is.

Like Fred says, do all that work before grinding.
 
With a damascus with a flowing pattern ( feather, double twist, etc.) you have to pre-bend the blade or the pattern will go off the blade before the tip. Heat the billet and bend it as needed. Flatten everything, and then normalize the billet. Check for flatness again, and grind the profile. Adjust anything that is not right by re-doing the hot shaping if needed. Once the pattern is going along the profile properly, grind in the bevels.

If you try and shape the blade after grinding the bevels, it will try and twist instead of bending in the desired curve.

Tip:
Make a Lucite template for the desired blade. Lay it on the billet as you shape it, looking at how the pattern fits the profile at each step of shaping. When the template matches the pattern, it is ready for grinding. If needed, give the surface a quick grind and a dip in FC to see all the pattern details.
 
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