How much extra material do you add in a damascus billet

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GoldSkula

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Jun 14, 2018
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If you are making a project that needs a set amount of damascus, how much extra steel do you use for the billet? Not looking for a specific percentage of course but a ballpark figure.
Thanks in advance
 
I don't size the billet of paternweld steel to the project. I make the same size billet and use what portion of it I need for a knife. Any leftover goes to another blade or fittings. I find the larger the billet, the easier it is to weld up. Bigger billets hold heat longer.
Jim A.
 
It depends on the pattern. Random pattern produces more usable metal than say feather pattern.
Fred
 
GoldSkula said:
If you are making a project that needs a set amount of damascus, how much extra steel do you use for the billet? Not looking for a specific percentage of course but a ballpark figure.
Thanks in advance
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How are you doing it? Power hammer? Press? By hand? That changes things a lot.

Also what pattern?
 
I allways loose a lot. I Normaly plan on loosing at least 50% of the material to scale, slag and grindings. This is all dependent on the pattern and how many times you restack. Another thing is that eats up steel is how skilled are you with in forging. If your billet is lumpy then you will loose lots when you have to grind it flat for restacking.
 
Ian Fifelski said:
How are you doing it? Power hammer? Press? By hand? That changes things a lot.

Also what pattern?
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I'm not asking for help here I was just interested. I personally don't make a lot of damscus but when I do I use a hand hammer. So far I have only made a small ring and a spacer out of random pattern damascus. I think it was something like 100 layers?
Thanks for the concern still.
 
"I'm not asking for help here I was just interested."

Asking questions is asking for help.... Nothing wrong with it. And his followup to your question was spot on. The method you make it with, and the pattern you go for changes how much of a % loss your looking at drastically. Gimme a press, and some random pattern and you could see less than 25% loss if done right. Try and do a Mosaic by hand though, and your looking at 100% loss :)
 
Aidenag said:
Try and do a Mosaic by hand though, and your looking at 100% loss
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Unless you are Steve Filicietti.
As far as advice, I can only echo what's already been said... waste rates vary greatly dependent upon pattern, equipment, and technique. It's always a good idea to make as big of billets as you can comfortably handle- it's a much more efficient way to work. You make a big fancy knife that you've planned, first and then smaller stuff just depending on what's left over.
I've started with 6-8 lbs of steel and ended up with a blade weighing less than 10 oz. before!
 
GoldSkula said:
I'm not asking for help here I was just interested. I personally don't make a lot of damscus but when I do I use a hand hammer. So far I have only made a small ring and a spacer out of random pattern damascus. I think it was something like 100 layers?
Thanks for the concern still.
Click to expand...
I was just asking questions to help better answer your original question:) How yo do it changes how much material you need because it takes more heats when doing it by hand so more scale is made which= more material lost.

With my first random billet that had 5 cut and re-stacks and was done by hand, I lost almost half of the material.
 
I lose about 150% of my steel. I’ve made a bunch of billets with delaminations, and two good billets so far. I’m going to focus on learning Damascus this year. It’s my resolution.
 
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