- Joined
- Nov 17, 1999
- Messages
- 676
Hello folks,
This weekend I finished modifying my forge with a new type venturi burner. this would be the fifth burner I make, mounted in the third gasforge. I didn't blow anything up, it actually worked.
Even better.. it works on extremely low pressure and very gas effecient (max pressure is 4.3 PSI or 300 mBar). I test ran it by letting a piece of spring steel inside, to see how hot it get's. The spring got yellow-orange for like 5 inches even heat... I tought that was pretty good for a one-burner forge.
Then, I tried to clean some cable of grease in it, since it was running already. I borax-ed the hell out of the borax, and tightened the cable a few times. The original idea was to prepare a few cables this way so i could try forgewelding in my coalforge which get's lots hotter.
Then my girlfriend calls.. and I forget one piece of cable inside my running forge
Then i come back like 5 minutes later, to find that the borax was bubbeling all over the bar, yet the steel was not sparking or molten.
Best colour desciption is borderline between orange and bright yellow.
Last time somone had info on Forgewelding (thanks bruce E, bruce B and Dion), they said bubbeling-borax-temp all the way trough is the way to go. So I gave it a shot and hammered a smal section together.. much at my suprise, it felt solid after two times. I finished the bar, hammered a knife shape (annealled like twice inbetween), and ground the surface. I was a very nice weld (I couldn't find any flaws, not even after etching Really, I looked at it for hours, no seams anywhere) - I almost fell over from suprise - .. my first try at forging cable and it worked???
So I finished the blank, had a buddy do a spectral analysis at the university (came down to pretty pure iron with .85 % carbon some nickel, maganese, silicon and vanadium all below 0.2 % ) on a leftover from the tang.
That ment that it should be able to be oilhardened.. but i like to edge quench stuff, I feel it gives me better blades. I expected it to delaminate, like Peter Nap said his first used to do. But no way, it even came out with a friggin' nice temper line.
Needles to say I was getting high when all I had eaten or drunk were fries, steak and water.
Dang this is really addictive. (even with the borax burns (drop fell in my shoe when i was twisting the cable..couldn't let go) some more spots on my arms, and two burned fingertips)
Here are the pics (they're big - I hope you all are reading this on really high resolution ) :
Blade turned out nice on a light etch, but dang hard to get right in a scan. It's polished, kinda has an organic look.. it get's different patterns when you flick it in the light, and you can hardly see the hardenings line. blade is tempered twice at 250 degrees C, edge is approx HRC 59 hard, spine is easy fileable.
The twist patters also makes a very nice spiralling rounded spine, no need for filework here.
Blade is 7 inch long, 3/16 thick, convex ground.
Any handle suggestions? Till now I'm thinking a nickelsilver small guard and a stag handle or reindeer.
You think I can forgeweld other stuff the same way as well? Like two of these bars together? or other steels?
Here is a better pic, even bigger :
http://www.student.khleuven.be/~0101747/mywork/cabledamascus2.jpg
Lemme know what you folks think...suggestions, comments, critics.
Thanks for looking.
Greetz and take care all,
Bart, now confirmed damascus addict.
This weekend I finished modifying my forge with a new type venturi burner. this would be the fifth burner I make, mounted in the third gasforge. I didn't blow anything up, it actually worked.
Even better.. it works on extremely low pressure and very gas effecient (max pressure is 4.3 PSI or 300 mBar). I test ran it by letting a piece of spring steel inside, to see how hot it get's. The spring got yellow-orange for like 5 inches even heat... I tought that was pretty good for a one-burner forge.
Then, I tried to clean some cable of grease in it, since it was running already. I borax-ed the hell out of the borax, and tightened the cable a few times. The original idea was to prepare a few cables this way so i could try forgewelding in my coalforge which get's lots hotter.
Then my girlfriend calls.. and I forget one piece of cable inside my running forge
Then i come back like 5 minutes later, to find that the borax was bubbeling all over the bar, yet the steel was not sparking or molten.
Best colour desciption is borderline between orange and bright yellow.
Last time somone had info on Forgewelding (thanks bruce E, bruce B and Dion), they said bubbeling-borax-temp all the way trough is the way to go. So I gave it a shot and hammered a smal section together.. much at my suprise, it felt solid after two times. I finished the bar, hammered a knife shape (annealled like twice inbetween), and ground the surface. I was a very nice weld (I couldn't find any flaws, not even after etching Really, I looked at it for hours, no seams anywhere) - I almost fell over from suprise - .. my first try at forging cable and it worked???
So I finished the blank, had a buddy do a spectral analysis at the university (came down to pretty pure iron with .85 % carbon some nickel, maganese, silicon and vanadium all below 0.2 % ) on a leftover from the tang.
That ment that it should be able to be oilhardened.. but i like to edge quench stuff, I feel it gives me better blades. I expected it to delaminate, like Peter Nap said his first used to do. But no way, it even came out with a friggin' nice temper line.
Needles to say I was getting high when all I had eaten or drunk were fries, steak and water.
Dang this is really addictive. (even with the borax burns (drop fell in my shoe when i was twisting the cable..couldn't let go
) some more spots on my arms, and two burned fingertips)Here are the pics (they're big - I hope you all are reading this on really high resolution
) :
Blade turned out nice on a light etch, but dang hard to get right in a scan. It's polished, kinda has an organic look.. it get's different patterns when you flick it in the light, and you can hardly see the hardenings line. blade is tempered twice at 250 degrees C, edge is approx HRC 59 hard, spine is easy fileable.
The twist patters also makes a very nice spiralling rounded spine, no need for filework here
. Blade is 7 inch long, 3/16 thick, convex ground.
Any handle suggestions? Till now I'm thinking a nickelsilver small guard and a stag handle or reindeer.
You think I can forgeweld other stuff the same way as well? Like two of these bars together? or other steels?
Here is a better pic, even bigger :
http://www.student.khleuven.be/~0101747/mywork/cabledamascus2.jpg
Lemme know what you folks think...suggestions, comments, critics.
Thanks for looking.
Greetz and take care all,
Bart, now confirmed damascus addict.
I bet stag would look fantastic with that blade!
Worth a try though, eh?
