When you find a tiny dot of what appears to be carbon scale(?) in damascus (yours or someone else') do you grind down past it, or is a 64th size dot too tiny to worry about? I haven't ground enough damascus to know how often this happens.
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tiny flaw damascus
- Thread starter RARanney
- Start date
- Joined
- Jul 8, 2002
- Messages
- 1,240
Hey, good question. Just my $0.02 worth but.......
If it is for a user, it is no good.
If it is for a wall hanger, that would be O.K.
The only exception to the rule, in my book, would be cable damascus, since it is almost imposible to get rid of all the internal voids. The rule I go by in cable is; anything smaller than the size of the head of a pin, is ok.
What I have found in my experience, and that is pretty limited, once you uncover a cold shut, slag inclusion, weld shear, etc, it gets worse as you grind deeper.
If it can be ground out, then you are probably O.K. However, there is always the chance that the flaw is still there. It all depends on the end use of the knife.
For a user, you want perfect. For a wall hanger you want perfect looking. The best way to go about it is to guarantee the blade for your lifetime. If it fails for some reason, other than abuse, replace it. That small inclusion you are talking about will disapear after you etch. So cosmeticaly, it will be fine, but structuraly, it is hard to say.
Again, just my $0.02.
If it is for a user, it is no good.
If it is for a wall hanger, that would be O.K.
The only exception to the rule, in my book, would be cable damascus, since it is almost imposible to get rid of all the internal voids. The rule I go by in cable is; anything smaller than the size of the head of a pin, is ok.
What I have found in my experience, and that is pretty limited, once you uncover a cold shut, slag inclusion, weld shear, etc, it gets worse as you grind deeper.
If it can be ground out, then you are probably O.K. However, there is always the chance that the flaw is still there. It all depends on the end use of the knife.
For a user, you want perfect. For a wall hanger you want perfect looking. The best way to go about it is to guarantee the blade for your lifetime. If it fails for some reason, other than abuse, replace it. That small inclusion you are talking about will disapear after you etch. So cosmeticaly, it will be fine, but structuraly, it is hard to say.
Again, just my $0.02.
I agree with Laredo. I made a beautiful fighter out of Damascus and went to finish it last week. While doing my final grinding up popped a very small inclusion. No matter how much I ground it was still there. When I etched the blade it stood out even more. There is no way this would ever go to a customer so I decided to make it the most expensive pattern in my shop.[
] Make it a pattern or into a knife you want to keep for yourself.
] Make it a pattern or into a knife you want to keep for yourself.I bought the damascus from a maker who was going out of business, and he couldn't remember who he bought it from. After grinding a small folder blade from it I realized it was even nicer inside than it looked outside. I got a good deal on it regardless of the dot which about the diameter of a straight pin's shaft thickness, but visible to the naked eye and in one of the light colored spots. In this case etching brought it out more. I think I'll go down to 5/32" and see if it "leaves". At this stage of the game these are all for me anyway so in my pocket it will go as a pretty user. I think the rule is clear, if I can see it so can someone else, in the case of those of you who sell, the customer. Thanks gentlemen.
- Joined
- Jun 22, 2002
- Messages
- 934
I just etched a blade with not enough dots. I worked the steel too many folds the pattern will not etch. The knife will be a keeper now.
Some small dots grind out some get worse. On a bold pattern a small dot may disapear in the etch. If you can notice your dot. Everyone else will to. However it may not look bad to someone else if it suits the knife and pattern.
Another way around it is I have seen one bloke cut a shaped hole on the blade as a decoration. Another whole he imbeded a semi pressious stone. The stone looked ok because he re ground the shape of the blade to incorperate the stone as a focus point. I think this solution would only work in very limited situations. It has a lot of potential to look very crap-tac-ular if not done well.
Some small dots grind out some get worse. On a bold pattern a small dot may disapear in the etch. If you can notice your dot. Everyone else will to. However it may not look bad to someone else if it suits the knife and pattern.
Another way around it is I have seen one bloke cut a shaped hole on the blade as a decoration. Another whole he imbeded a semi pressious stone. The stone looked ok because he re ground the shape of the blade to incorperate the stone as a focus point. I think this solution would only work in very limited situations. It has a lot of potential to look very crap-tac-ular if not done well.