Myself and some of my work

ArielSalaverria

ArielSalaverria

Joined
Mar 26, 2004
Messages
1,617
Hello there,

I'd like to introduce myself to the forums and answer all the questions you might want to ask me (I know I'll have some questions to make too, as I'm looking forward to learn from other smiths and help people with what little I know)

My complete name is Ariel Elias Salaverria, and I live in Buenos Aires, Argentina. I'm married and I have a lovely daughter of just 9 years old.

I'm an artisan bladesmith, I made my first knife when I was 12 years old in 1977. Since that moment, I alternate knifemaking with other activities, such as electromechanics, music and enamel techniques. I worked as a mechanic in diesel locomotives, electric facilities, in artistic bladesmithing shops.

In addition of making knives, I also currently repair drums and other percusion instruments and restore japanese sword wooden sheats to add some income to the knifemaking proffession that I love.

I used every career path to learn about new materials and techniques to use later on on my knives and sheats, and I'm always trying to make something different and learning something new all days. Nowadays I'm making knives most in damascus, and experimenting some more with micarta, big blades and titanium.

My new goal is to make a decent katana and so I'm taking classes with a well respected Argentinian swordmaker, Miguel Guggliotta.
I met him last year and since then I had the prividlege to work with him and learn the techniques of making damascus steels and mokume, materials that now I use on my knives.

I know I should learn more about the Internet and the English language, and I'll be trying to make the time to do that, from now, I have Nestor (tracer-san) to help me with translations.

If you want to reach me, just drop me an email to macafaca@hotmail.com or arielsalaverria@yahoo.com.ar and I'll get back to you as soon as posible.

I'll be posting some new knives I made and the process I used to make them, for now I'll show you my latest pictured jobs:

This is a multilayer micarta style I made with two different kinds of wood, Caoba (Mahogany) and Guatambu (Pau Marfim), pressing the layers in different spots, to be able later to show the contrast between the two different colors once used it on a knife handle.
I also made something similar in leather -brown and black- to use in the sheat of the knives, but I still didn't get to do them.

multilaminadomadera.jpg


Here are two little knives (diferentially tempered) I made in D2 and 9260 showing this multilayer wood on the handle.

pequeright.jpg

9260laminadoright.jpg



Now this is something I wanted to do for a long time and I finally did it, a big damascus blade, but with a twist... I wanted to be a sandwich style blade, with a very hard core and edge, but sourrounded with more elastic steel, so using a heart of O1, I alternated layers of 1010 and 1070 on both sides and used an encapsulated method for forging the blade.

sandwich_1010_1070_O1.jpg



And the final result is a 30cm (12") long blade with full tang ready to receive a nice and thick handle!
The black part of the blade -the edge- that looks darker than the rest of the blade is the O1 showing from inside of the knife, darkened more than the other steels on the acid due to the carbon component on it.


12damascusright.jpg


12damascuslomo.jpg


12damascusdetail.jpg


BIG Picture
http://www.savetheworld.com.ar/ariel/12damascushuge.jpg

Respectfully,

Ariel Salaverria
 
If I may help you with your english ,it's sheath not sheat. Do you mean differentially hardened ( quenching just the edge) or differentially tempered (completely quenched then the spine tempered more than the edge) ? I don't think very many in this country make a damascus that way but it's certainly valid and obviously works for you and it has the advantage of excellent O1 for the center. ......Very nice work ......welcome to the group, show us your work, ask questions. Please detail the forging of the damascus for a start.
 
Your smaller knife with an integral bolster and laminated wood is a nice looking piece. Very comfortable looking. I don't know much about damascus, but like the looks of yours.
 
Ariel,

It's a pleasure reading your post and enjoying your work. Your english is better than mine, so don't apologize at all! ;)

I like how you are taking a little untraditional approach to the damascus forging, and you are very crafty with making your OWN handle composites. Very appreciable work.

My favorite is your little 'gaucho' styled utility knife. Coming from Argentina, I'd expect no less...! :D

A big American welcome from myself and a host of others, I am certain. Thanks for taking the time to join us.

Coop
 
Welcome Ariel and thanks for sharing the pictures of your work. I love that little integral - very cool.

Cheers,

Roger
 
I'm no English wizzard at all, so sometimes I have to simplify what Ariel sends me due to lack of vocabulary, so if somethign doesn't make proper sense, I'm the one that probably screw that up ;)
 
Hi,

I wish I could write like this, what I do is send the text in Spanish to Tracer-san and he sends me the translated text with the board codes so I can post it (and the digital images). I can read English to some extent, but I don't feel comfortable writing it.

I mean that I only temper the edge and tip of the knife (in this cases you can visually check what's been tempered by looking at the temper line. I NEVER draw that, so you can be sure if there's a line like that, it's differentially hardened)

In my experience, you don't always need to temper the spine of the blade, as if you don't it will remain more elastic, making it more resistant to lateral movements and vibrations.

In order to make damascus I have three processes, the "traditional" one, in which I tie the different pieces of steel and take them to about 1300C and start hammering til they weld together (I use Sodium borate as flux). Then I start modeling and the steel to the shape of the knife I want to make.
Depending on the kind of damascus I want to make, I fold the steels N times or I rotate the layers along the horizontal axis, etc.

The second one is to grab a distribution chain from a car or bike and start working with that, as it's made from different steels, I can get nice patterns with that too. Sometimes I use this as a new layer for a another damascus and I get very strange patterns.

And the third process id the "Sandwich" on that I pictured on the first post, that allows me to get a super hard edge, an elastic body/spine and all the aestethics of the damascus steels. To do this, I place the layers of steel on that rectangular piece to contain them and start hammering it till they weld, then I remove them from there, and work it like on the first process.

On either of this 3 variations, once the forged shape is finished, I let the steel cold, use the belt to shape it into the final stage, then polish it, temper it, clean it from the oil tempering residues, and finally etch it on the acid.

In the case of the "Sandwiches Damascus", I etch the blade a couple of times during the grinding process to make sure the layers are symetrical on both sides of the knife.

Here's a damascus I'm working on, made with 1085 and some old nickel coins.
nickeldamascusblade.jpg


I'm also "documenting" the stages of a forged damascus to place on my future website:

Files and ball bearing parts
forja1.jpg


Hammered a bit
forja2.jpg


Initial shape to be grinded (I rotate this steels, so you can see the rotating lines in there)
forja3.jpg


And this is my first attempt with a micarta I made from cotton fabric. I always used natural material for sheaths and handles, but I'm starting to learn this home made micarta thingy.
1micarta.jpg


Respectfully,

Ariel
 
Wow - your own made micarta. That is really what I call sole authorship.

This gives you a lot of freedom to experiment. Perhaps you could make "rag" micarta patterns that look like burl wood, only you can control the pattern and coloration more. There are probably knife makers who would buy the rag micarta if it had the right look.
 
Welcome aboard Ariel. I agree with Roger, that little integral is very nice. Look forward to seeing more of your work, perhaps with some Argentine flair.
 
Ariel

Bienvenidos! I am glad to see that there is a knifemaking culture in Argentina similar to what we have here. I really like some of your designs, especially those which mirror the classic gaucho style. I'm looking forward to seeing more of your designs.


Disculpame por mi mal gramatica y la falta de acentos (mi computadora aqui no los aceptan) Me alegre ver que existen artesanes en fajas en Argentina como tenemos aqui. Y se que hay un tradicion rica de esto alla. Me gusta mucho algunos de sus disenos, especialmete los del estilo tradicional gaucho, como la mayoridad de los que existen en tiendas in la Argentina son hechos mas o menos. Hace dos anos vivi alla, en Buenos Aires, y conozco bien el pais. Y lo extrano mucho. Saludos!
 
Welcome aboard Ariel! Mucho Gusto! My name is Karl Rejman and I make knvies as a hobby myself. I love Japanese blades too, and my goal is to end up making tactical knives for police/military, small fixed blades for every day carry, japanese-styles kitchen knvies using non-traditional materials, and Japanese swords. Right now I do stock removal with a small grinder, and I am happy learning on that right now.

Your blades are gorgeous, and I am very excited that we have another talented and excited knife nut on our board.

I was wondering if you could or would like to share how you make micarta? I would love to make my own as well.

Hasta luego, amigo!


*** edited to fix my own english!

Oh, while I am at it, would you like us to help out with your english, by mentionign where it needs "correction"?
 
Thank you all.

GRACIAS!!!
Si, la mayoria de los cuchillos que se venden a turistas son de baja calidad. "For shows", no de verdad.

Ariel
 
Thank-you very much Ariel! I appreciate your kindness in sharing your home made micarta method! I will try this out this year and let you know how I did.

See you around on the forums! Hasta Luego!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top