My first damascus

Knifemaker87

Knifemaker87

Joined
Jan 2, 2006
Messages
1,073
hey everybody... i posted pics of the cracked billet before.. but i REALLY wanted to see what it looked like... so i forged up a little blade. and was able to get most of the impuritues and cracks out of it.
let me know what you think. any idea why the hamon was so close to the edge?
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thanks!
~Chris
 
very nice! That shape would look nice with a light hardwood, like curly maple with silver wire. :thumbup:
 
it is a really small knife... but i do have some curly maple. i was thinking about it.
i'll post pics when i am done.
thanks!
~Chris
 
you could but some thin grips on it & sell it as a letter-opener, that way the imperfections of the damascus would not be a "performance" issue.
 
what kind of layer count is it. what steels, looks good
 
it is all cable.. about 24 layers of cable... but each layer of cable has 36 layers itself. so i fyou are to count strands.. like 800
thanks!
~Chris
 
Hi Chris,
The "too close to the edge" hamon could be from one of several reasons.
1. Too short of soak time. I soak at about 1300 for 5 - 8 minutes (with 1080), then bring up to 1500 for the quench. Seems to work for me.
2. Too slow of a quench. Thicker part of the blade holds temp longer.
3. Quenching before the entire blade is up to temp. Thicker part of the blade takes longer to heat.

Interesting blade, by the way.

Hope this helps.

Michael
 
thanks Michael!
in retrospect (hindsight is always 20/20 isnt it..) you are right. i just didnt get it hot enough. i was trying to heat treat it like Walter sorrells does.. where he actually doesnt let the "meat" of the blade get up to critical.. but i dont think i let it get hot enough. for a while i was getting my blades too how because i was soaking them at too high a temperature, which caused them to crack. so thank you for the advice..very simple, but very helpful.

i have to comment.. i went to your website.. and wow.. i am particularly intrested in the mosaic... are you willing to give some of the secrets on trullly "hand made" damascus? i only have hand tools as well. i would be most intrested.
thanks so much
~Chris
 
hey!
thats a really really cool picture! here is what i did..
rather than forging the entire cable together like in the picture, i "unraveled" it.. and welded the separate strands together. then.. i have 6 strands all welded.. i cleaned them up and stacked them on top of each other. then.. i welded the stack together and then folded the stack twice.
here are some pics:
http://picasaweb.google.com/Knifemaker87/HighLayerDamascus

hope this helps!
~Chris
 
yea thats sure is a different way to do that, i've always wanted to "braid" a nickle, brass,and steel rod together and forge weld it all together, and then see what it looks like, anyway awesome job as usual
 
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