Pattern Welding...

L

Lost In Shuffle

Joined
May 2, 2005
Messages
109
I saw a show on the history channel about swords, and their use in the Wars of the Roses, and they briefly talked about pattern welding. I get the gist of the process but I was wondering if anyone here has had any experience with it and could possibly go into more depth concerning it. All help is vary much appreciated.

lis
 
two or more types of steel or iron forge welded together and layered, twisted, manipulated and ground to creat a pattern. A ladder pattern for example has groves cut into the stacked and layered bar apraxamatly 2/3" the way through and then the bar is forged to shape. The groves bring the ladder pattern to the surface. The posibilities are endless, a small change here and it can make a hole new pattern. I have heard of some smiths taking and layering up differant colored playdo to figure out a new pattern.
 
Hey Will, Just for the record I've tried that playdough trick :thumbdn: and a couple of other type clays ( some supposed great stuff :rolleyes: ) and I have never had much luck . It just doesn't quite work like the real thing . I had heard the same rumor and just had to try it . Save your dough :D

edit : I forgot to add the IMHO & it didn't work for me . Cause sure as heck if I tell you it doesn't work , someone will come up with a way to do it - and crow taste like crap ( to me anyway ) --this could get redundant
 
how 'bout layering up a billit of playdo and putting it under the press?:D Or hitting softly with a rubber mallet?:p I always figured it'd be hard to get enough layers to be realy represenative.
 
See what I mean about eating crow ?? :) I knew somebody would step up with a solution . And if Delbert Ealy is using it ( fimo ?? ) it must work. Delbert,what is fimo & who do you get yours from ? Is it costly $$ ?
Will,that is when problems started occuring with the clay , when the layer count would start to get up there a bit - even at only around 50 layers it would become just a blob of odd colored clay. I would very much like to hear more about " Fimo " and how you use it Del .
 
you can get femo from any arts and crafts store. its an a oven hardening clay thay is kinda like advanced play-doh. it can be formed and hardened in about 20 minutes(dont quote me on that its been a long time) but its really easy to work with and its cheap. another thing is it comes in a variety of colors
 
The clay technique (I use two colors of regular plastic modeling clay) is not going to work for hundreds of layers.It is only to demonstrate the manipulation process necessary to get a desired pattern.Start with several layers,fold maybe two times to get some striping,and then manipulate as desired to get a certain pattern.The easy way to make the starter strips is to roll out the clay between two sheets of waxed paper.You can roll out the billet as you fold it this way,too.
I often use clay to teach a person how to forge a knife.I make a "bar" of clay the size of the stock being worked.The hammer is a wooden crab mallet with the faces sanded like a forging hammer's,including the cross pein.The anvil is a 4X4X12" board with waxed paper wrapped around it, held in place with two rubber bands.If they can get the idea of what happens to the metal when it is hit ,before they start on hot steel,they are ahead of the game.
 
I have a 'tutorial' with pictures you might find interesting. It sort of guides you through the process of forging a 'typical' medeival, La Tene-through-Viking era pattern-welded sword. I like doing these alot because I find them pretty challenging. (If the link doesn't work for some reason, just go to caswellstudios.com, click on swords, about damascus steel, then the sword-making link.
Hope this helps.
http://www.caswellstudios.com/SwordPages/BodyPages/swordmakingpage.html
 
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