Hammer and Anvil Damascus

F

Frank Eaton

Joined
Sep 10, 2004
Messages
362
Currently making a damascus blade of Cable/ 01/ Cable. Hoping to get the line along the grind. I hammered it all by hand, and I am posting to say...damn that takes a long time. It took me 3 hours to make the first cable damascus billet, I was alittle faster on the second one. I will post it when I finish in the next decade or so.
 
Frank,you can spot the hand hammer guys by the oversize right arm.
It gets faster as you get used to hand welding billets.After a while you really start dreaming about presses and power hammers.Still,there is a great joy in doing it all by hand.I think I spent a whole weekend making my first 224 layer blade. of 1095 and 15N20.
 
dont feel too bad frank i'm swinging away too i got done swinging a 4 lb cross peen all day and i almost smashed a 12 oz beer mug on the bar:) sounds like par for the course i have about 2 hours in a peice of cable thats still not done.
 
How do you guys know when the cable is done? I have a piece that I keep smashing the snot out of and every time I remove the residual flux and grind a little, the major bands of the cable are still slightly visible. ... aaaargh!...

After an hour or so, I tried to make a phone call on my cell and it felt like I was trying to type with a water bottle.
 
Try getting it either a bit hotter or hammering from another direction. Just because you're squishing it down one way doesn't mean that you're welding it on all sides, meaning that you could have the incomplete weld's you're seeing.
 
Cable doesn't weld by smashing it. Not all cable will weld well, either. Some will weld and then come apart. Gotta have the right cable. Hot, hot, hot is very important. As it was originally described to me: when you thinks it hot enough, go have a cup of coffee and wait awhile more.

It definitely works best to keep it in the round and tap tap tap, slowly closing it up. Lots of flux, a couple twists at the beginning. Work only a little bit per heat, not along the whole piece. Eventually it will feel like a real solid rod. I use the shelf on the anvil as a "backstop" and a 1000g hammer. Turn it every couple of hammer taps. Eventually you'll get a feel for it.

If you aren't sure of the useability of your cable for wire damascus, buy a piece from Sheffield or Darren Ellis. Best to learn on known materials.
 
Frank

From my experience, Mike is very right. I made a hardy to weld cable in that is shaped like a 1 1/2" half moon. A blacksmith's swage block would be even better. Cable welds much easier trying to keep it round. When it's solid, then flatten it out, also at a welding heat. I do all my forging by hand, but I'm somewhat ambidextrous with a hammer. I can pound the crap out of stuff/drive nails/chop with an axe with either hand (can't write worth a crap left handed, though), so my arms are the same size.:D

Todd
 
Getting good welds, just takes a long time to prepare billets for making damascus. But I need the practice and I am sure that it is the best way to learn to make damascus, I can always throw the press in the mix later when I have learned.
 
Mike is giving you good info.Get it fully up to welding heat,not just to red hot.Work it round and round.Tighten up the twist a bit as you go.Only work about one inch each heat.Once it feels solid,bring it up to welding heat and work the whole bar end to end a couple of more times (reheating as needed).Now bring it back up to heat and twist it good and tight.Rework once again and it should work like a bar of solid steel now.One thing to remember is that the center has to be at welding temp ,too.Get the forge temp set right and soak each heat long enough to get to the center.
Stacy
 
I can sympathize, I gave up hand forging damascus after my hammer started dislocating my little finger. The hammer was a 6lb with a 18" handle.
Del
 
Thanks for the tips. I'm using the cable from Darren. Got 3 .5" diameter pieces for practice and pounded them flat. After the suggestion to forge it round first, I stepped up to the 1.5" diameter cable and worked it round, not completely welding inch by inch, but compacting it so it doesn't unravel at the ends (I don't have a torch or arc welder). I was waiting until it got orange hot, close to yellow.

I think another key is just practicing until I'm used to working with tongs and the hammer (3lb mini sledge and 4lb smith's hammer)

Also have another question... if, after hitting a couple times, I reheat the cable and there is still enough flux to puddle on the surface, should I scrape it off and reflux or just pound it once it gets to temperature? I've been scraping the residual flux off and it really gunks up my wire brush :D

Thanks again, the info is much appreciated!

Erik
 
There is a good video on making a cable damascus blade.Check out technical video rental.
 
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