Galvinized looking spot on damascus

Cody Hofsommer

Cody Hofsommer

Joined
Dec 2, 2011
Messages
913
What causes a galvinized looking spot in/on damascus? My guess is mig wire from tacking it together somewhere along the way.
Thanks in advance for the help.
Cody
 
No, I didn't take one. I should have. It was a small area near the spine of the blade. I cleaned the blade, etched for a few seconds, and checked for even etch. There it was. It was obvious, shiny, almost looked like tiny bubbles, I had to take it back to 120,220,400,800 to get it out. It wasn't just oil or some other surface crud, it was in the steel, a few thousandths deep.
 
Yes probably weld. I have had that happen as well. I have lately been forge welding and grinding all mig welds off before drawing out. Seems to work well and you can easily see where the welds are.
 
I set my welds, and then pull the billet out and vise it up by the handle and grind the mig beads off hot before I square up the bar or anything that would drive the beads into the bar.


If I'm restacking a few times, like for W's and all I've got to do is draw the bar one way I'll usually ignore the sides for a while, but I still don't forge that stuff in. Heavy penetration is bad enough but if you start forging those beads in you often have to chase them DEEP to get them out.

Honestly though I usually always grind the sides of my finished bars regardless to make sure I"m past any bad spots on the edges, JIC, and if you look, you'll see any penetrated wire once the bar starts showing colors.

TIG welding your billets together without filler is a really nice way to avoid this all-together, but it's a lot more time consuming. You can also, mig your billets together, and go ahead and grind the weld bead off if you've got your penetration set correctly. Ideally you want really minimal penetration however, which is why I do it hot.
 
I don't weld on the sides of the stack anymore. Weld the ends and just cut that part off when stacking.
 
Typically I only weld on the ends, but this was a first for me. Crushed Ws, and then I split it and made feather. It was my first time for either, and somehow must have missed some mig weld probably the first weld. I was able to grind/sand it out though. Here it is.
1FF66354-87BA-43B9-AC46-55B63B757458-558-0000008CB19F2114_zps6b9c5c53.jpg
 
Beautiful feather Cody. Be careful, get known for doing feathers like that, you'll find yourself making them constantly. ;)
 
Thanks guys, I was smiling like a little kid at Christmas when I pulled it out of the FC. Im proof the a blind squirrel can find a nut once in the while. :)
 
That is one of the nicest feather patterns I've ever seen! I like that the layer coun't isn't too high and the contrast is *just* right :) Beautiful job man. I have a Q if you or anyone else happen to know, do you absolutly need a press in order to make feather patterned damascus? Like using a hot cut "axe" type thing to split the billit and push the inner layers down, or is there another way ta do it my just using an anvil and a hammer? :D
Thanks for sharing!
Paul
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This one was done without a press. I have a 25# little giant power hammer, and when the stack was to high for it, I was on the anvil with a hammer. I split it just as you said, with a hot cut and hammer. I didn't even have a striker. A press would have been great, but it can be done with out one.
 
It can definitely be done by hand, but there is more room for error in timing. Having a striker really helps, and you can't smear the layers down as much since you have to use a sharp hot cut. The big difficulty with feathers is getting them split and back together without weld flaws, and even when you've done dozens or more, you're always going to have issues with one billet out of so many.


If you want to attempt it by hand, I'd recommend a striker, and that you're real comfortable with making damascus in general, knowing your heat, when to flux, etc. You have to keep the scale out of the cut.
 
Cody, how tall was the stack when you started hitting it? As for welding, yeah, you do need to do a bit on a piece like that. I am saving up my pennies for a small Miller TIG machine. I saw my buddy Claude Bouchonville using a TIG elder to tack together billets and I was sold immediately.
 
I think the last stack was like 3"tall by 1.5" wide and 1" thick. I could have adjusted my PH a little, but still probably didn't have room for a hot cut. I was worried that I would be cutting it too cleanly, I even dulled my hot cut after the first heat, but I think that it came out just about right, as far as the pulling down of the center. I almost called my wife out to the shop to strike for me, but then I decided against that!
 
haha yea I'm deffinitely nowhere near trying to make a feather pattern yet, I still am practicing the basics but havn't for a while since I use the same paint can forge to forge in and HT, and I just got so sick of the flux screwing it up. I'm want to make a new forge, same design with a venturi but a bit longer and bit larger in diameter with an easily replaceably floor so I can switch it for forge weld use, or HT use. But yea great work on that blade, and doin it by hand none the less!
-Paul
 
beautiful feather as said before, feather is my favorite damascus to look at. Need to buy a blade like that some day, soon.
 
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