HTing damascus?

[Gossman Knives]

If I were to get some damascus barstock to do stock removal with, are there different types of damascus and are the heat treatments different or the same?
Scott

 

[deker]

Different combinations of steel in Damascus will indeed require different HT instructions. My guess is that whoever you get the damascus from can give you HT info on what they've sold you.

-d

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

Most damascus makers provide the HT temps with the bar.It varies a lot depending on the steel in the billet.Some is done just like 5160 and others as if it was ATS-34.The mix of steel will determine the HT temps.

 

[Kevin R. Cashen]

Scott, you are asking all the right questions here. There are infinitely more possible types of damascus (pattern welding) than there are steels being made today. Not only can one combine any number of steels to make each mix entirely unique, the ratios of those steels will also make huge differences in the end product. To me anybody who refers to any pattern welding as if it were the same product, or gives one-size-fits all heat treaments to the same displays a profound lack of basic knowledge of these facts.

The easier to heat treat mixes will contain steels that are all of the same hardening group- oil hardening, air hardening, water hardening (or, as a prefer, the more accurate descriptions of depth of hardening), as you can consider all the components while choosing the quench, I like O1/L6 even though it can be a real pain to work with in the creation process, because the heat treatments are so close that neither has to be heat treated at the expense of the other with my equipment. Something a little trickier would be 1095/L6, here you have to choose between underhardening the 1095 or shocking the L6 a bit. Despite the arguments to the contrary, such mixes are more prone to distortion due to the differential rates of hardening, and I have easily demonstrated it at more than a couple lectures.

So many people have jumped onto the damascus band wagon without working out the basics of what different alloys may do to the mix, that buying the stuff is certainly a "caveat emptor" type situation. So while I totally agree that the maker may be the best source on how to heat treat it one needs to verify if the makers really knows how to heat treat it any better than you do.

I would look up the specs of the component steels and see if the heat treat demands match up enough to make you feel comfortable with that mix and then follow those specs accordingly. And I couldnt' finish this post without adding my same tired old rule of thumb for any mix that needs to perform-"If you can't make a blade out of it all by itself, why would you want water down good steel with it?"

 

[Gossman Knives]

Thanks guys for the responses. Kevin, thank you for the detailed explanation. I figured as much since there are several variations of steel used in the making of damascus. With the customers I sell to, damascus really isn't the best choice for the knives I make but I still would like to give it a try even if it's one for myself. The patterns in damascus are really nice looking. When I went to the first Moran Hammer-in, it was quite a treat watching how damascus is made.
Scott

 

[JCaswell]

... And I couldnt' finish this post without adding my same tired old rule of thumb for any mix that needs to perform-"If you can't make a blade out of it all by itself, why would you want water down good steel with it?"

THAT'S THE TRUTH! Seems so obvious, yet is so overlooked!