Ring Guard Bowie Progression

[Kevin Jones]

First off, I want to echo all of the compliments posted here. After seeing and reading this thread, one gets a much greater appreciation of what goes into the making of a damascus blade and why, at first blush, the asking price for such a knife appears high.

I do have a question. For me going back to some of the earlier pictures that you posted, it was not intuitive why you twisted half the bar with a right twist and the other half with a left twist and then alternated the four resulting pieces. I assume that both actions, the twisting and the alternating, were necessary to form the W pattern you wanted. But how did you know that? Is there literature that can tell a maker if you want to obtain a certain pattern in the steel, the maker need to do thus or do you have to learn from experience?

Paul

Not to speak for Kyle, but I believe one thing that has really helped to progress modern Damascus and the patterns archived is that makers are so open and willing to share information with one another. Other areas of knifemaking have also benefited from this unselfishness and sharing. Hammer-ins, show seminars and even "WIPs" like this would be examples where information/skills/processes are shared and taught.

 

[Allen Newberry]

Speaking of sharing at hammer-ins Kyle I enjoyed your blade finishing seminar at the Branson Hammer-in and I am enjoying this thread as well.

 

[Kyle Royer]

First off, I want to echo all of the compliments posted here. After seeing and reading this thread, one gets a much greater appreciation of what goes into the making of a damascus blade and why, at first blush, the asking price for such a knife appears high.

I do have a question. For me going back to some of the earlier pictures that you posted, it was not intuitive why you twisted half the bar with a right twist and the other half with a left twist and then alternated the four resulting pieces.

I did the alternating twist because you will see some lines going on a 45 degree right angle with the bar that is twisted right and left lines on the bar that was twisted left. So when you stack the bars you go with a left piece then a right piece and left then right, which looks a lot better than all the pieces going the same way. I hope this explains it a little better.

I assume that both actions, the twisting and the alternating, were necessary to form the W pattern you wanted. But how did you know that?

Is there literature that can tell a maker if you want to obtain a certain pattern in the steel, the maker need to do thus or do you have to learn from experience?
Paul

What Kevin said pretty much sums it up. Not to speak for Kyle, but I believe one thing that has really helped to progress modern Damascus and the patterns archived is that makers are so open and willing to share information with one another. Other areas of knifemaking have also benefited from this unselfishness and sharing. Hammer-ins, show seminars and even "WIPs" like this would be examples where information/skills/processes are shared and taught."

Very good questions.

 

[Kyle Royer]

OK, I guess I'll just jump in with what I did today.

Here I've ground off the scale on the 1080 and have the billet ready to tack weld.

Now I have tack welded the billet.

Here I have put kerosene on the billet to keep the Borax on the billet.

I have forge welded the billet and have ground off all the tack welds on the side of the billet to keep them from getting into the billet as I cut and fold.

Here I have forged out the billet.

Now I have ground off all the scale on the billet.

In this picture I have cut the billet into five equal pieces.

Now I have tack welded the ends of the billet and have added a handle.

A little more kerosene and borax and we're ready to go back in the forge.

I have now forge welded and drawn out the billet in the forge.

 

[Kyle Royer]

Here I've cleaned the scale off the billet, cut it into four and etched the ends a little to see how it looks so far.

I have tack welded the billet and handle in this picture.

Now I have forge welded the billet and drawn it out into a 7/8" square bar with the edges beveled a little.

In this picture I have twisted half the billet tight right and half of it tight left.

And last for today I have re-squared the twisted billets into 3/4" square bars.

Thanks for looking!

 

[Andrew Colglazier]

Wonderful WIP. Great pics, excellent descriptions. These kinds of thread help to educate all of us as to the amount of planning, technical ability, and real work that goes into the creation of these beautiful blades.

Thanks so much!

Andy

 

[peterinct]

GREAT stuff Kyle. The pattern is looking good so far. Watching these threads makes me want to do some forging....some day perhaps?

Thanks, and i'll be waiting for the progression to continue.

Peter

 

[John White]

Hey Kyle,

Forging Damascus myself today. Thanks for showing folks what we're up to.

Love those shots of the smoke rolling out of the quench. Exciting moment, no?

John

 

[Kyle Royer]

Hi everyone!

I am sorry for not posting anything the last two days. I had a small setback when I was forging the ring guard and had to make a new billet of damascus and try again. I will explain as it comes.

Here I have cut the two twisted bars in half and tack welded two of the halves together. (OK here is where my first mistake came up. I should have used all four pieces to make a thicker billet.)

Now I forged welded the twisted bars together and have drawn it out a little. (Too thin)

Here are the fittings I forged from the other leftover bars of twisted damascus. Two frame pieces, a piece for the rear bolsters, spacer, clam shell guard and the piece I made for the ring guard that is too thin. I did not know it was too thin yet.

Here is the ring guard piece with 1/4" holes that I made to start the inside of the ring. I will connect the holes with a file before I start forging. (Here is where I made another mistake, I should have drilled one hole in the middle because the long groove I made just gave me trouble trying to get the hole round and it further used up more precious damascus.)

I have forged out the inside of the ring with a swedge I made. (Getting very thin This it where I first noticed that I started too thin)

I finished forging it out just so I could see if it would possibly work. It was too thin and the ring was a little too big on the inside.

Yesterday I started a new billet of damascus and made it as I did the other one up to the part where I took two of the twisted bars and forged them together, instead I took four twisted bars and made the billet twice as big as you can see in this picture. I have also made one 3/8" hole and will now forge it out.

I am forging the ring out in this picture. As you can see everything on this billet is thicker.

I have forged out the ring as much as I dare. Compare sizes with the top and bottom ring. The top one being the good piece. On the piece I am going to use I left as much material as possible because more of the explosion pattern will show if I grind away the outside of the billet.

Thanks for looking. It's going great!

 

[Lorien]

it's awesome that you posted your mistakes:thumbup:
watching the guard come into being is marvelous. It's all so amazing to me.

 

[TekSec]

They're not mistakes, they are design modifications and preparing material for future projects At least that's what I go with. Just be glad you make your own damascus otherwise it would be a lot pricier of mistake!

 

[Patrick M.]

Thanks Kyle. A real pleasure to follow this...

 

[Kevin Jones]

Integrating an integral "ring" along with the shell motif into a forged Damascus guard is by no means an easy task. I expect this guard alone when finished will be quite special and a testament to Kyle's skill as a forger and craftsman.

One of the things I like about these "WIPs" is that they definitely demonstrate how creating a complex custom knife such as we are exposed to here practically every day take quite a bit of time, effort, skill and patiences.

 

[John White]

Way to go, Kyle. That's really "expanding" your skills.

John

 

[NickWheeler]

Looking good Kyle!

How about a pic of the guards with a quarter or something for size reference? I know there's a ball-peen in that one pic, but I'm not sure if it's an 8oz or 32 oz.

That's some tricky forging right there. :thumbup:

 

[Big Rick]

It's nice to know that a master also makes mistakes. Keep up the good work Kyle I really look forward to work in progress threads.

 

[Kyle Royer]

Here is a picture for Nick that might help him with size referencing.

OK, maybe that wasn't the best thing to use for comparing size. Here is one with a quarter. By the way, that hammer is an eight ounce Nick.

Here I've done some more grinding on the blade.

I have hand sanded both sides of the ricasso in this picture.

Now I will grind in the shoulders of the ricasso with an attachment I made for my grinder.

A close up of the 1/8" radius.

Here is what it does.

Now I've pined on a handle that I made to practice shaping when I first started making knives. I put this on here so it will be more comfortable to do the performance tests.

 

[Kyle Royer]

Here I'm copping on a 2X4.

And all the way through.

Still razor sharp. I also did a brass rod test to look at edge deflection and to see if my tempering was at the proper temperature and it was.

Now I've hand sanded the blade to 220 grit.

Thanks for looking! Have a great weekend.

 

[JParanee]

Great stuff Kyle. Like I said I think that it is very cool of you to be testing these blades for performance and would like to see more smiths showing us what they do to test there work

 

[Lorien]

+ 1 on the testing:thumbup: