Pressed vs Ground Ladder Pattern: is there a difference?

[Leon Husock]

The only difference I can think would be that if you pressed the pattern in and ground it flat, the stripes would have a denser pattern than the surrounding area, and vice versa for grinding the pattern in and then forging it flat. But I've only just made my first billet of a substantial enough size to really experiment in patterning with (I've made damascus before, but have never had reliable access to a press till now so it's been small quantities).

Has anyone ever done a comparison on two pieces off the same billet?

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

Cutting the pattern and then forging flat will spread the pattern between the grind areas and tighten the ladder bars. Forging them down and then grinding the bar flat leaves the spaces tighter and the ladders more spread.

This is relative to how deep the areas are forged/cut and the difference is clearly discernable.

 

[Leon Husock]

Cutting the pattern and then forging flat will spread the pattern between the grind areas and tighten the ladder bars. Forging them down and then grinding the bar flat leaves the spaces tighter and the ladders more spread.

This is relative to how deep the areas are forged/cut and the difference is clearly discernable.

So...pretty much exactly the opposite of what I thought it would be! Hah. And now that I think about it of course it would work that way. Glad I asked.

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

Whenever you press/hammer the hot metal it moves sideways. The ram/hammer moves on axis Z and the bar squishes on axis X and Y. This widens the pattern under the ram at 90° the direction of the press/hammer. If you grind the pattern, the layers are undisturbed in the
ground and will expand where forged/pressed.