help needed

rotor

rotor

Joined
Mar 18, 1999
Messages
184
I am workin on a damascas project its 1040 layers 5160 and cable damascus i was grinding the bevels and the spots showed up i just figured i would them off no biggie but they will not grind off and ive i used a silcon carbide stone on them but they seem to skate aross the stone i think during the forging i have formed some carbides in the metal this is a new one on me its going to be hell to hand sand any advice.Russ
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Russ,If you didn't add anything else to the billetthen you have me stumped also.At first glance I was figuring it was some end grain or something from the cable.Did you weld the ends of the cable with a arch welder or the ends of the billet woith the welder.Maybe you got some slag or something in the billet,Or what kind of rod did you use if you did arc weld the ends,maybe it was a high alloy rod and caused this???????? If it is carbide you wont grind it or sand it,I know this for a fact as I put some tungston carbide in a mix last spring and boy did it make for a big hassle when grinding....
Good luck,
Bruce
 
it was 5160 and some cable and it wad wired together with annealed wire didnt weld anything but the leaf spring wasnt that old but not sure it did have a chrysler stamp ????
 
I asked Ed to check this out and maybe he can help out.I have never had this problem with this combination of steel before myself..
Bruce
 
I would guess what you see is a contaminate of some kind, although it appears to have some hints of crystaline structure. I tried dusting some cable damascus with diamond dust years ago, it would not grind, the only way you would have been able to sharpen the blade was with a hammer and anvil. The diamond dust did not look like what you have, but more like a hobnail boot sole. What you have would probably not contribute to a great knife, but I wwuld suggest putting an edge on it and see how it cuts, test edge flex and if it enteres the realm of what you seek forget the cosmetics and continue to learn all you can, it could be great fodder for the next knife.
 
Thanks Ed, Bruce your response and imput is awsome and and is greatly appreciated. and continuing learnig this will not be a problem with your expertise and knowledge being shared and the vast knowledge of the forum. my plan for this project is x3 normalize x3quench the last one being edge quenched then triple temper. i will post pictures as soon as i get this done thanks again Russ
 
My favorite quench oil for Damascus has been Brownell's Tough Quench, it is a fairly fast oil. I would suggest the tempering time be at least 2 hours, I let mine heat up slow, hold for two hours, then cool down slow. Usually takes 7 hours in my outfit. Doesn't hurt to cool to around freezing between tempering heats, Same for hardening heats, sometimes, experiment to determin how it effects your steel.
 
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