To Fold or not to Fold...Canister?

[Greg Covington]

I am braving this heatwave and started a canister (2" square by 6" long) filled with 4 large strips of motorcyle chain and small "chicklet" size pieces of sawmill blade, a few gun screws from a WWII Mauser, and little chips of misc. steel from the junkbin. It only took a minimal amt. of 1084 power to top it off.

It has welded up so far into a respectable size billet....using welding dies first, squaring dies, then onto the draw dies. The billet is about 12" long right now and nearly one inch thick. I started to lose my handle so I called it quits for awhile until I weld the handle back on.

I was careful to make sure that my chain links are facing the correct side of the billet....not end on.

I need some input here.....should I give the billet a fold after I thin it out a bit or should I leave it alone?????

What will be the possible results either way?

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

I'd fold it on a center strip of 1084.Put the best surface outward.That way you will get a clean edge on the blade,and both sides of the billet will be the same.Use a long piece of 1084 and you have a new handle on your billet.

 

[B . Buxton]

Greg, grind you 1" square bar clean, cut into 4 equal pieces, stack into a square placing a piece of plain stock like stacy said between all 4 pieces and reweld using your squaring dies. stretch it out to 1" square again and cut the end off, etch and see what the pattern looks like, if its interesting, do an accordian cut on the whole bar, and open it up very hot and slowly, flatten and forge out your blade, should come out with horizantal and veritcal lines with the chain, etc in between. Just a throught. Also don't throw away your accordian pieces you cut out, they'll be useful later.

Another throught, you can always cut the second square bar into 4 equal pieces and restack in a square and reweld again, before you accordian cut this will really change things around. takes time, but that time increases value of the knife sometimes 3 or 4 times.

Have fun,

Bill

 

[Greg Covington]

Thanks for the input Stacy and Bill.....

This billet got big enough in length for me to experiment with a bit.

The first blade will be a big one with no manipulation....just to see what comes out. Preliminary grind/etch shows a really sweet, multicolor pattern.

We shall see.......