- Joined
- Jan 27, 2000
- Messages
- 615
A while back Nick Wheeler and I began discussing the possiblity of doing a collaborative effort. We both have been quite busy with orders, but the idea certainly stayed in the back of my mind.
After several emails and phone calls we decided that our collaboration piece would be a Damascus Bowie in the 8" to 8 1/2" blade length range. Rather than pin each other down with specifics we decided to just let each other be creative.
In the end we decided that I would make the Damascus, then forge, grind, heat treat, test, and etch the blade. Nick's job would be to design and create the guard and handle, and ferrule and buttcap if applicable. Nick will also be taking care of etching our names in the ricasso. Our names will face opposite ends of the knife. That way it won't look like one guy has top billing by having his name on top.
We each have free roam of the project. This gives both of us the opportunity to decide what we think looks good and go with it. So when the project is complete, I will be just as surprised as everyone else. I really like that idea.
We also decdided to document the project as best we could. Documenting with photos can be quite difficult when one is running a one shop, but we will do the best we can.
The blade style I decided on was a Southwestern styled Bowie. The Damascus pattern would be a tight raindrop. I was unable to get a shot of the blade actually being forged from the billet, but here's a shot of the blade after being forged pretty much to shape.
In this shot I am in the process of normalizing the blade. The next photo will show a step I do between normalizing and annealing. This may take some folks aback.
In the shot above I have brought the blade up into the "critical" range where Austenite forms and am doing a full quench to transform the crystalline structure of the steel to Martensite. In other words I am hardening the blade. The reason for this is simple. I do a lot of hand work, so I want the steel as soft as I can get it.
Huh? Bear with me. To get the steel in it's absolute softest state I do a spheroidizing anneal. This is a sub-critical anneal where the carbides are pooled up into little spherical globules, leaving larger areas of softer ferrite. This makes the steel much easier to grind, sand, file, drill, etc. as opposed to annealing to Pearlite. As it happens, the steel will respond more readily from Martensite than from Pearlite when doing this sub-critical anneal. Later on when I do the actual final hardening of the blade, the steel will be allowed to soak long enough for the carbides to redisperse themselves evenly back into the matrix.
Some of the resident metallurgists may correct me on the terminology or what's actually going on in the steel, and that's fine. A rose by any other name would smell as sweet. I'm more interested in the result than the verbage. The method I used was borrowed from information from Howard Clark, for which I am eternally grateful.
After several emails and phone calls we decided that our collaboration piece would be a Damascus Bowie in the 8" to 8 1/2" blade length range. Rather than pin each other down with specifics we decided to just let each other be creative.
In the end we decided that I would make the Damascus, then forge, grind, heat treat, test, and etch the blade. Nick's job would be to design and create the guard and handle, and ferrule and buttcap if applicable. Nick will also be taking care of etching our names in the ricasso. Our names will face opposite ends of the knife. That way it won't look like one guy has top billing by having his name on top.
We each have free roam of the project. This gives both of us the opportunity to decide what we think looks good and go with it. So when the project is complete, I will be just as surprised as everyone else. I really like that idea.
We also decdided to document the project as best we could. Documenting with photos can be quite difficult when one is running a one shop, but we will do the best we can.
The blade style I decided on was a Southwestern styled Bowie. The Damascus pattern would be a tight raindrop. I was unable to get a shot of the blade actually being forged from the billet, but here's a shot of the blade after being forged pretty much to shape.
In this shot I am in the process of normalizing the blade. The next photo will show a step I do between normalizing and annealing. This may take some folks aback.
In the shot above I have brought the blade up into the "critical" range where Austenite forms and am doing a full quench to transform the crystalline structure of the steel to Martensite. In other words I am hardening the blade. The reason for this is simple. I do a lot of hand work, so I want the steel as soft as I can get it.
Huh? Bear with me. To get the steel in it's absolute softest state I do a spheroidizing anneal. This is a sub-critical anneal where the carbides are pooled up into little spherical globules, leaving larger areas of softer ferrite. This makes the steel much easier to grind, sand, file, drill, etc. as opposed to annealing to Pearlite. As it happens, the steel will respond more readily from Martensite than from Pearlite when doing this sub-critical anneal. Later on when I do the actual final hardening of the blade, the steel will be allowed to soak long enough for the carbides to redisperse themselves evenly back into the matrix.
Some of the resident metallurgists may correct me on the terminology or what's actually going on in the steel, and that's fine. A rose by any other name would smell as sweet. I'm more interested in the result than the verbage. The method I used was borrowed from information from Howard Clark, for which I am eternally grateful.
If there isn't - - - there is now ! 
