I was gifted a Damascus billet... now what?

D

Daniel Swanson

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Mar 13, 2018
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My wife bought me a Damascus billet for christmas. It’s spectacular raindrop pattern in 15n20 and 4160. It’s 10 inches long by 2.5” wide. The problem is that it’s 1/4” thick!! I make chef knives almost exclusively, usually from 3/32”. I generally use 52100 and 1084. I do stock removal and send out for HT. I’ve made a few hunting and knives but even for those I was using 1/8 or 3/16. What do I do with this?? Meat cleaver? FYI I don’t have a surface grinder.
 
Sounds like a great size for a small bowie knife.....

Or a dagger...


But really, let's be honest.... sounds like enough steel to make matching power bracelets for each wrist. Then I'd pretend to be Wonder woman with my Damascus bracelets of power!!!
 
I have a piece of Damascus sitting on my bench about the same size as yours and with a similar quandary. It's almost thick enough to consider making an integral but not quite. I've considered just starting to grind it down and then us my granite surface plate to get it flat once I'm where I want to be in terms of thickness.

I don't have any suggestions other than that. I'm curious to see what other answers you might receive
 
I would suggest forging it down, but as you only do stock removal, you can make something with a lot of distal taper, like a bowie/fighter as already suggested. Or something with some very deep hollow grinds, or make a camp knife/chopper. You could also make 2 or 3 smaller hidden tang knives out of it and just cut each of the profiles a little bit over size first and then reduce their thickness to where you want it by hogging off most of it on a platen and then touching it up on a disc grinder/sander to get it flat & parallel. Since it's a special billet to you it should be worth the bit of extra elbow grease if you really wanted to make something thinner.


~Paul
My Youtube Channel
... (Some old videos of some of my older work)
 
Grind it down yourself,36 grit belt and a couple of hours would do alot on it
No surface grinder needed
 
I would contact one of the smiths near you who has a power hammer or press.

If there is no one near, try guys like Salem and JT. They should easily be able to make it longer and thinner.
 
My concern with grinding it down would be grinding past much of the pattern. Finding someone who can forge it down I would think a better option to not waste steel and not risk losing the pattern.
 
2.5" wide? That thing must weigh a ton!

1. Any decent machine shop can dimension it for you, but the cost might be (very) prohibitive.

2. Look at it like a challenge. That is how we find our inner "smith". How about a couple of narrow "fighter" styles with hollow grinds and distal taper? Skeletonize your handles by drilling a few 1/4 holes in strategic places. Filework the heck out of that fat spine. I will not be what other smiths do, it will be what you do.

3. If my lovely wife bought me such a nice gift I would thank her profusely and then, when she wasn't looking, I would send it back to the maker in exchange for something that fits your style.
 
All great ideas. Might try a bowie. Would be my first time doing that style, first false edge, first time doing a guard, first time doing spine work if I decide to do that. I could try doing my first tapered tang too...
otherwise I’ll see if Salem or JT reply and offer to smash it down a bit so I could get two camp knives from it!
 
I didn't ask, but who made the billet?
Depending on the source, the maker maybe glad to draw it out for a minimal fee, or free.

I find the steel mix of 15N20 and Chromoly unique. Don't recall seeing any of the folks I know making that mix. I also don't recall ever seeing 4160, either. I know of 4150 and 4161. I would worry about cracks in HT with a 41XX steel in the mix. It also forges really HOT.
 
Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith said:
I didn't ask, but who made the billet?
Depending on the source, the maker maybe glad to draw it out for a minimal fee, or free.

I find the steel mix of 15N20 and Chromoly unique. Don't recall seeing any of the folks I know making that mix. I also don't recall ever seeing 4160, either. I know of 4150 and 4161. I would worry about cracks in HT with a 41XX steel in the mix. It also forges really HOT.
Click to expand...

Is it possibly 5160? Just a misprint?

Hoss
 
She did read it to me wrong, it’s actually 4140 and 15n20. Never heard of 4140, looks like it’s a chromoly industrial steel, not very common for knifemaking and not ideal either. She got it from a guy named OliverForge on Etsy. I’ll contact him and see if he is interested in helping me out, if not I’ll make that Bowie.
 
4140 is a chronmium molybnenum steel with .40% carbon. It is what anvils and hammers are often made from. It won't harden in the range we need for knives. It isn't a good knife blade steel.

I'll be honest, out of the top 100 choices, there are 99 steels better for damascus than 4140.

Are you sure it was not 5160, which is used by some folks in making damascus in the form of car springs (which are usually not actually 5160). I see this in overseas production damascus. 5160 makes an OK knife.

The 15N20 used in damascus is largely in the form of used bandsaw blades from sawmills. This steel is available as scrap in many places in 8-12" width.
 
Daniel Swanson said:
My wife bought me a Damascus billet for christmas. It’s spectacular raindrop pattern in 15n20 and 4160. It’s 10 inches long by 2.5” wide. The problem is that it’s 1/4” thick!! I make chef knives almost exclusively, usually from 3/32”. I generally use 52100 and 1084. I do stock removal and send out for HT. I’ve made a few hunting and knives but even for those I was using 1/8 or 3/16. What do I do with this?? Meat cleaver? FYI I don’t have a surface grinder.
Click to expand...


Knowing what we now know about the billet maybe a cleaver would be your best bet.
 
BINGO! … Horsewright has a great solution. Make a "Chinese Cleaver" shape form it. Do a FFG to a .005" edge, convex that to the final edge, and it will dice and chop.

something shaped like this:
b31c6037-1264-449e-b2e1-1892ecae1a53_1.6aed997a41581d7de60945cd33e73fcf.jpeg
 
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