Thunder Forged Damascus - Opinions

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Sean O'Hare

Sean O'Hare

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Jul 24, 2003
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Okay I was just completing my first blade with thunderforged damascus to send out for heat treating and all of a sudden I noticed a very small crack in the steel. It followed a line in the damascus and as I ground it got bigger and bigger, that said I'm not saying it's like the total length of the blade here but it is none the less unsaleable. The crack now goes right through the blade and is about 1/8" in length.

Has anyone else had this problem? I've never used damascus at all prior to this piece and was really looking forward to making this knife. Needless to say I'm more than a little put out!

Sean
 
That's a concern with every piece of damascus anyone uses. A flaw in the welding process, usually. One never knows til you get inside.
I'd call the seller and ask for a new piece.
 
Yeah right! Good luck getting any warrenty consideration. My first and only experience was a broken blade from poor or nill normalizing on their part. They said "No Way"
 
Isn't thunderforged damascus made overseas? I'd look into getting damascus from either an American or Canadian maker...I bet they'd stand behind their product more. Devin Thomas comes to mind as a stand up guy who makes his living producing pattern welded steel.

http://www.DevinThomas.com


-Darren
 
Thunderforge is from India (I think) and I have had positive dealings with the company in the past. I would hope that they would warranty a flaw in the billet.
 
The folks at Thunder Forge, as well as lots of knife nuts, read this forum. Give em a call or send em an email and see what they have to say and then post their reply here.
Nothing like good customer relations to boost an outfit's public image!
 
I hope this works out, I bought a couple pieces of their stock at Blade last summer but haven't used them yet. Please let us know how they react if you do request a replacement.

By the way, I'm with Fitzo on this one, you never know what damascus is going to bring when you start grinding it. That's one of the risks of using it at all. I remember a story that John Fitch was going to decline testing for his MS this year because he found a small flaw in one of his billets and felt it was inappropriate to present. I guess he built another knife, because I think he was awarded his MS.

Dave
 
Well talk about customer service!

I just got a call from the makers of Thunder Forged damascus who actually tracked me down! Now that's a switch to what I'm used to.

Obviously they wanted to assure me of their product. A proactive call like that really goes a long way in my books.

So my steel is definitely going to be replaced and then some.

Although it sucked that I had this problem I am very impressed with this companies interest in helping me out.

Sean
 
Glad to hear they backed up their product on this one. Cold shuts and bad welds happen in pattern welding, and one just can't tell until you get into the billet. So, when one occurs in purchased steel, it is good to know that a commercial company will back it up as well as an individual "damascus" maker would.
 
Just found this thread on a google. I have (or had) barstock from Thunderforge(d) Damascus, and no, the product was NOT from India, and not forge welded. It was manufactured as CPM - crucible powdered metal. Powdered metal of two or more types are layered into the crucible. Under heat, pressure and inside a vacuum furnace the particles reach welding heat but do not melt. The particles fuse together and become one solid bar. It is not a simple nor a cheap way to manufacture patterned damascus type steel. but crucible type steels should be technically perfect. The people that are forgeing Damascus make some incredible and beautiful forged damascus and I would not question for a minute the quality of their steel. I have made knives with both CPM and forged material and had no problems. I also have 2 or three billets of Damascus steel directly shipped from India and I fear, exact analysis might be difficult, therefore heat treating might be mostly guesswork. I'd love to get more forged material, but a check on EBAY tells me 47.00 for shipping a 120.00 piece of steel is not going to happen, pretty or not.
 
Several years back there was a bunch of Damascus called Thunder Forge Damascus sold. It was terrible stuff. Yes it would maybe crack when you tried to harden it. I say try because often it wouldn't get much harder than the tin in a can. It was being sold by a company in Georgia - USA but was definitely an import from India. There was a lot of pieces sold . Finally the sad stories got less. I sure hope this Thunder Forge Damascus is not the same. Frank
 
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Its good stuff and Ric Chopra is first class. At the present he does not sell Damascus to the public. It was manufactured in Japan if I remember correctly. I do know the tsunami of a few years age did a number on the family's factory there.
 
Ric was the one selling the stuff in the past. He would never believe he was selling a poor product and just kept sending it out the door. Now on the other hand he was selling pearl scales that were good quality for the price charged. Frank
 
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I have used several billets from Alabama Damascus, and recently had the opportunity to visit their facility. Most impressive.
 
I can second the recommendation for Alabama damascus. Had a minor flaw in a billet, and they sent me a brand new one for free. Good folks, and I'll be doing business with them again for sure, when my design ideas and HT possibilities coincide.
 
Windhook, no offense, but this thread died ten years ago. We try to discourage necroposting here, as sometimes things are either no longer relevant, or there was an argument that has long since been resolved offline, or most of the major contributors are no longer active on this forum. If you have questions about Thunderforged Damascus and Alabama Damascus (or perhaps you might want to try getting some of Delbert Ealy's Damascus which is great, or Devin Thomas Damascus, or some of Deker's) I would ask that you start a new thread and let this one die off again (or maybe one of the mods could lock this)

I see you are new here, welcome to ShopTalk

-Page
 
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