Make my Cable Damascus Pop?

[RyanW]

I am finishing up a large bowie I made from my first forged Cable Damascus. I know there are some cracks etc, it is very far from perfect. But I am happy for it being my first forging and first Bowie. Handle is Cocobolo.

My question is how do I make this damascus stand out more? I sanded up to 800 grit, I Etched in Etchant (Radio Shack variety) while rubbing with 0000 steel wool. then polished with Flitz

I am open to suggestions or comments.
Thanks for looking

 

[Sam Salvati]

Problem with cable is it's all the same steel, most of the definition comes from some of the little wires burning up a bit and therefore etching differently then others. could try it in a can with some nickle powder next time.

 

[Will Leavitt]

Didn't Goddard pull cable apart and wind nickle silver wire around the wire bundles to add contrast? I know I've seen something like that, be a bit simpler than making up a canister.

 

[Bailey Knives]

I don't know about making the damascus pop, but holy crap! That knife is awesome. I can't believe how far you have come in such a short amount of time. Great job on the knife. It is very hard to do cable damascus and not get inclusions in it. Nice work. Are you using a press, a power hammer or just good ol' sweat and tears?

 

[Rick Marchand]

Friggin sweet knife, Ryan. The inclusions are the well earned scares of learning. You have been nocking them out of the park lately, bro.

 

[RyanW]

Wow thanks everyone for all the nice comments, and from some of the best makers IMO!

Problem with cable is it's all the same steel, most of the definition comes from some of the little wires burning up a bit and therefore etching differently then others. could try it in a can with some nickle powder next time.

Thanks for the suggestion Sam, I will probably be staying away from the Cable after this one, the inclusions drove me nuts. I would work one out and another one would pop up! Very frustrating.

Didn't Goddard pull cable apart and wind nickle silver wire around the wire bundles to add contrast? I know I've seen something like that, be a bit simpler than making up a canister.

and that just sounds like a head ache. But after searching some of Goddard's knives, worth it!

I don't know about making the damascus pop, but holy crap! That knife is awesome. I can't believe how far you have come in such a short amount of time. Great job on the knife. It is very hard to do cable damascus and not get inclusions in it. Nice work. Are you using a press, a power hammer or just good ol' sweat and tears?

Matt, Thank you so much, there are quite a few inclusions. I have been putting in a lot of time trying to get things right through all the steps. The moment I decided to start making knives was when I saw how you made my design come to life, I will never be as good as you (Or many others on here) but I can always try! Luckily I have a friend that has done some cable dam in the past and he helped me along the way, good ole Sweat, Hammer and Blisters. after I was done it looked like a Dog Rocket, we took it to a machine shop that had a power hammer and flattened it out.

Friggin sweet knife, Ryan. The inclusions are the well earned scares of learning. You have been nocking them out of the park lately, bro.

Rick, thank you as one of the makers I try to emulate that means a lot!

 

[Salem Straub]

Nice knife, Ryan. I find it helps with cable, to etch more times with a weaker ferric solution. The high carbon areas will etch more quickly than the low carbon weld zones, creating a matrix of bright lines when polished. Clean lightly in between etches with 1500 grit paper on a pretty firm backing. An eraser works well. The idea is to shine the high spots, the lows get lower with each etch and the definition will improve bit by bit. Kind of like hamon polishing. The difference is not to finish it with a paste or anything soft, really. It will rub the dark out of the low spots. I use 1500 to finish the last time. Maybe four or five 1 min. etches. I got this from Wayne Goddard, and it works well with practice.

The bottom blade shows the fuzziness that can happen with over etching. Gotta know when to stop. This also happens if the oxides are not cleaned off enough between etches.

Some blades are very frustratingly hard to get to look even.

 

[RyanW]

Salem, Thank you that is exactly the kind of information I am looking for. I am going to work on it when I get some time tomorrow!