I made my own steel today! Well, sort of...

Phillip Patton

Phillip Patton

Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
Joined
Jul 25, 2005
Messages
5,376
I made my first batch of canned steel. I read in one of the "Knives" annuals about somebody taking their scraps of damascus, packing it in a can with powdered steel, and welding it. (I being a packrat, never throw out ANY scraps of steel, unless it's just obviously useless. :D )
So I decided to do the same thing. I didn't have any powdered steel, so I used the steel dust that my bandsaw makes, which I sweep up and save, of course.
Amazingly, it worked. It's actually a solid piece of steel. :thumbup:
I knew that because of the different steels I use, the "background", which is made up of the steel filings, would be kind of speckled, which is what I wanted.
I think the result is pretty cool. :D I can't wait to forge a blade out of it.

Here's some pictures. The gray areas are some of the tubing that I didn't grind off.

cannedsteel0003.jpg



cannedsteel0002.jpg



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Dang Phillip that is cool! I do not feel so bad now because I have been saving
my band saw "dust". Make sure you post pic's as you make progress with your
Patten Pattern
 
Tommegow said:
Dang Phillip that is cool! I do not feel so bad now because I have been saving
my band saw "dust". Make sure you post pic's as you make progress with your
Patten Pattern
Click to expand...

I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one who saves my floor sweepings. :D
Of course I keep nonferrous dust separate from ferrous. I would think a bunch of brass 360 mixed in would have some bad effects.
 
Remember to use only bandsaw dust not grinding dust which contains abrasive particles !!
 
You have a sickness Phillip, but it's a way cool one! Can't wait to see a blade from that stock! -Matt-
 
That's cool. I get tons of little itty bitty ball bearings that I have to examine for damage for my customers. I've thought about taking a bunch of them and putting layer after layer in a can with powdered metal. I think the little steel balls with the powdered 1084 would make a neat looking spotted steel. I'm just concerned about the mixture of 52100 and 1084. Does anyone know if this steel combination will make a good damascus? I'm concerned that the carbon contents are so far apart that the steel might tend to rip itself apart during thermal expansion and contraction.
 
This is one of the greatest things I ever seen. It beats making miniatures.

Saving your band saw dust… that amazes me!
 
grease-man said:
You have a sickness Phillip, but it's a way cool one! Can't wait to see a blade from that stock! -Matt-
Click to expand...

It is indeed a sickness, but one I don't mind being incurable. :)
I got into knifemaking because I wanted to make swords, and I got into forging to make damascus. But when I first saw damascus, I didn't think it was anything special. It took the "bug" a year or too to really sink it's teeth in.
 
Looks good, I've been saving my scraps to try the same thing, but I haven't saved cuttings from the bandsaw, don't think I want stainless mixed in with three or four other types of steel:p Now your making me want to order some powdered steel.
 
I foresee some very interesting canned salvaged scrap damascus showing up in these threads in the near future. and.........I'm really looking forward to seeing what everyone comes up with!
 
Let me see if I've got this right... the stock (solid scrap and the sawdust) is already paid for, and quite literally represents part of every knife you've made in the last x-number of months? That is very, very cool.

How many layers in that billet? :)
 
GibsonFan said:
Let me see if I've got this right... the stock (solid scrap and the sawdust) is already paid for, and quite literally represents part of every knife you've made in the last x-number of months? That is very, very cool.

How many layers in that billet? :)
Click to expand...

Yep, it's got a little bit of everything in it. :)
EVERYTHING used in the billet, except the welding rod, and the propane, was recycled.
There's pieces that only have 5 layers, others that have 300 layers. Some of it was patterned, some not.
I have a LOT more dust, and a lot more scraps, but I don't have any more tubing. All I had was a 2" section of 2" square tube. I need to get more....
 
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