Setting up shop, may need advice on a few things

I admire your strive, going straight to damascus with very little experience. I am doing baby steps and still stock removal and taking on a new design or procedure as I learn. I can heat treat basic steel with my mini forge but after that I am intimidated.
 
AVigil said:
If it has delamination's chances are it will fail one day
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Thats a posibility forsure, but it don't really matter to me.
IF this knife ever changes hands, I will gift it to someone who will appreciate the work of a novice like me.


So far I feel I have learned a lot, tho I yet have many many miles to go.
Once this blade is done, I will start a new one and a new one and fail and learn some more.
The only reason I work with new steel, is so I know how to harden it and have a few known facts in this learning procces.
 
jeepseahawk said:
I admire your strive, going straight to damascus with very little experience. I am doing baby steps and still stock removal and taking on a new design or procedure as I learn. I can heat treat basic steel with my mini forge but after that I am intimidated.
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Thank you very much, I have never tried stock removal. Maybe I should have started there, as grinding sure ain't as easy as it looks on video.
But again Damascus was/is the goal, and then it just feels natural to turn it into a blade.

I haven't really been intimidated by this, it's a question of trial, error and learning by doing.
The biggest cost for me, will be the propane.
Making this damascus, I spend about ½ of what I payed for 20 lbs of 1084 steel.

If you wanna do something more then stock removal, I would just put my feet together and jump in feet first.
When you learn something from it, it's never truly a failure!
 
First etch, hand sanded to 1200 grit.
It's now getting a cup of coffee and I think, I will finish off with a light touch over with 1500 grit and then buffing.
first-etch.jpg
 
Thank you for the positive feedback

I have started to work on a guard, from some 8mm stainless scraps I found at the sailboat harbor where my boat is docked.
They have been doing a bunch of renovating, and learned by now it's not gonna be easy to forge.
My best guess is it's 316L or something in that range, as to my knowlage it's the most common used at sea around here.

Filing sure takes a bit of time, I haven't been able to find all the files I want/need.
Trying to my best, to get a good result with what I got.

Still got a bit of work left, on getting all the angles right.
guard-fit-1.jpg



The fit on the sides, I think turned out all right for my first try.
Might be easier to file and fit, picking something softer and thinner then 8mm Stainless.
But I figure I got that, it's free and again im learning. In this case maybe more like, refreshing old memorys from shop class.

guard-fit-2.jpg


guard-fit-3.jpg


There are tiny small gabs, but there is not a lot of light shining thru.
I can't wiggle it in any directing, and holds the blade in place so I think it will be all right.
 
The many aspects of knife making

Moving the bedroom, as the misses mentioned something about noze from the workshop.
So I have cleared out my old office space, and just moved my computer/office into a corner of the insulated part of the workshop/garage.

Plastering, nearly as much fun as handsanding.
Faster results tho!
 
Working on the guard, I figured maybe I could use my 2nd failed attempt as a bolster.
After a lot of cutting and grinding, I think this could work out with a lot more cutting and grinding.

bolster-bar.jpg
 
Coming along well.
Be cautious of making the guard overpower the handle or blade. Petit and elegant wins most every time.
Also, I think you need to do something with that taper back at the ricasso. Maybe a smoothly sweeping choil?
 
Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith said:
Coming along well.
Be cautious of making the guard overpower the handle or blade. Petit and elegant wins most every time.
Also, I think you need to do something with that taper back at the ricasso. Maybe a smoothly sweeping choil?
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Thank you Sir, I am slowly taking each step to make sure I get as good a result as im able to.
The guard have been trimmed down a fair bit, I wanted to make the slot fit before I did too much else. In case I made a big mess of it, it would be a waste of time shaping everything up.

Also I have experianced the 1084 and 440C stainless damascus, is next to impossible to drill as the 440C just burns up the drill bits.
I've tried with a diamond ball tip, and after a hour of drilling I got no where.
I can get thru the top layer of 1084, so the damascus spacer might be a pipe dream.
As I don't have the equipment, I can't controll the temps needed for annealing the 440C.
 
Clamp your workpiece on the drill press table ( or lock in a drilling vise)
Use a proper HSS or cobalt drill bit made to drill metal - 118° or 135°
Slow down your drill
Make sure the drill is trammed at 90°
Use a lubricant like Molly-Dee or other drilling/tapping oil
Either apply steady firm ( but not hard) pressure or "peck" at the hole. Pecking is easiest for an inexperienced person.

Here is how to "Peck":
Put a drop of oil on the spot to be drilled
Apply firm pressure for one or two seconds
Lift the drill bit off the surface
Peck down again
Repeat as the drill bit slowly goes through the metal.

Carbide bits are very good for hard to drill metals, but are expensive and fragile.
Some folks use a spade tipped masonry bit to drill their holes. These are run at full speed.
A good quality set of cobalt bits is worth the expenditure once you know how to drill metal. However, it will be wasted money without the right equipment and skills.
 
Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith said:
However, it will be wasted money without the right equipment and skills.
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Thanks for the reply, I have drilled ton's of metal years ago.
But never had to deal with hardend steel, and my drill press is really bad. Compared to all my metal drilling have been done on industrial equipment, not a 20 year old discount drill press.

Pecking seems to have no effect what so ever, and I have given up on HHS drills. Still got a pack with 2 new 3mm drills, but basicly I have wasted all the small used drills I had.
I have a small box, where all my used drills go into and thats what I have been using up.
Tried the masonry drill trick, it worked great for a moment and then it failed.
Broken a Diamond tip and a Carbide drill bit, funny part is the remaining tip on the Carbide shaft is doing a better job then everything else I have tried.
 
Pali Fisher said:
Thanks for the reply, I have drilled ton's of metal years ago.
But never had to deal with hardend steel, and my drill press is really bad. Compared to all my metal drilling have been done on industrial equipment, not a 20 year old discount drill press.

Pecking seems to have no effect what so ever, and I have given up on HHS drills. Still got a pack with 2 new 3mm drills, but basicly I have wasted all the small used drills I had.
I have a small box, where all my used drills go into and thats what I have been using up.
Tried the masonry drill trick, it worked great for a moment and then it failed.
Broken a Diamond tip and a Carbide drill bit, funny part is the remaining tip on the Carbide shaft is doing a better job then everything else I have tried.
Click to expand...
Get masonry drill bits or better for ceramic tile ,HSS will not drill hardened steel .
https://bladeforums.com/threads/drilling-hardened-steel-easy-cheap-way.1625415/
 
All right, holes have been drilled.
Only took about the whole day, but found a pack of masonry drills in the back of my cabinet.
That anyway wouldn't fit my drill hammer, so reprofiled them and got my way thru the damacus and every small masonry drill I had.

Still need to remove the side walls, but I am out of tools n drills small enough.
Will see what I can pick up tomorrow, tho the place I normaly would go to for drills are closed.
IMG-20201107-172321.jpg
 
A.McPherson said:
You can get carbide bits for a dremel tool, if you've got one of them...
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Yeah that might be an good option, I got a old kock-off with a busted brass insert.
It won't tighten down on the drill bits, so I haven't been using it since it "dropped" a drill bit that litterly hit my safety glasses.

I was thinking something like trying to stick a CNC endmill, in my drillpress and see where that goes.
Got bored and started filing it a bit, while watching a movie last night.



So taking a relaxed sunday, maybe handfile a bit more on this a little later.
 
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