"W" Pattern Damascus WIP my way

[Mike Turner]

Thanks JGguns, this initial billet is being made to fill an order I have so I need this bar as big as I can keep it. Right now the billet 1 3/4" wide by 5" tall and is 2 3/8" long.

 

[RyanW]

You have been Very Busy Mike, This WIP is looking great!

 

[Mike Turner]

Thanks Ryan and you know me I live to work , just wish I had 48 hour days.

 

[Mike Davis]

Looking awesome Mr. T!!!

 

[Mike Turner]

Thanks Mike, I pity the fool who does not like this thread .

 

[Mike Turner]

Now I stack these up and clamp them to tack weld them.

All tack welded and ready to put in the can.

Now I cut a piece of square tubing to make our can.

No I need to split the tube.

More to come.

 

[Mike Turner]

Now I start to prepare the can, I did not have a tube tall enough so I will have to extend this tube to fit the billet.

I cut some used stainless steel heat treat foil to go on the two end which is the top and bottom of the billet. I also put some paper in to eat up the air.

Sides welded up.

Now I cut end plates from a large plate.

End plates welded on.

Then I weld on a piece of rebar to be able to handle this.

Then I forge weld this.

Then I peel the can open to retrieve the welded billet. Also in this picture is another "W" pattern billet I am working on that is a special billet but I did not photograph it.

Then I pop the billet out of the can.

And here we have our little billet .

This was the last weld for this billet so soon as it cools down we will be taking a slab off to see the finished billet.

 

[BePrepared]

Perhaps i'm all alone in this, but i had NO IDEAS how much work went into making damascus steels.

Seriously this is at LEAST an order of magnitude more work than i thought... you sir, are awesome

 

[Brian Ayres]

Loving this WIP Mike. Makes me want a press and a Little Giant worse than ever before. I appreciate you taking the time to document all of this!

I can't wait to see a blade from this billet.

 

[Salem Straub]

Perhaps i'm all alone in this, but i had NO IDEAS how much work went into making damascus steels.

Seriously this is at LEAST an order of magnitude more work than i thought... you sir, are awesome

AND, it's even more work than it looks like in this thread. Not that I've made any "W" billets yet...

Mike, when you get a minute, would you mind commenting on your forging press a bit? I've not seen one of those, it looks like quite the unit.

 

[Mike Turner]

AND, it's even more work than it looks like in this thread. Not that I've made any "W" billets yet...

Ain't that the truth, these WIPS make this look so easy and that you can just crank out pattern welded billets but in all I have probably have 8 hours or more working on this billet.

Mike, when you get a minute, would you mind commenting on your forging press a bit? I've not seen one of those, it looks like quite the unit.

Salem, the press I use I bought used from a that got out of knife making. It is a commercial press no idea how much these are new but I have heard a lot. He had done some work to it to make it a forging press which failed the first billet I tried to squash with it, guess everyone can not be a good welded LOL. SO I stripped off what he had done and made it similar to a log splitter. Unlike the homemade presses you see this one runs at 10,000 psi and the controls are electric not hydraulic. I really like this unit for one it is very quiet, the ram moves at just the right speed not to fast or slow. The only thing that bugs me about it is the previous owner built the stand way to low and it is murder on my trashed back so you will see I squat or one knee in the photos. Some day I may have a extra hour or so to fix this problem but I have had this maybe 5 years now and have not had time yet LOL. If you want more photos let me know I will take some.

Here is the press I have which mine actually has the power unit not the hand pump as shown.
Power Team Hydraulics

Loving this WIP Mike. Makes me want a press and a Little Giant worse than ever before. I appreciate you taking the time to document all of this!

I can't wait to see a blade from this billet.

So Brian did you go get a press and LG yet .? And your welcome, just trying to give back some like what I have received from this great community.

 

[Salem Straub]

Thanks Mike. Cool stuff about the press. 10,000 p.s.i. I just relined my welding forge and did some trial pattern welding, inspired I must say partly by you. It was all done on the LG, but I'm now also working on my press build. Just finished drilling all the holes for the ram slide today. It's gonna be a very exciting day when I can fire the press up.

 

[Mike Turner]

Your Welcome Salem and be sure to share your inspiration, I am constantly inspired by folks on this great forum. A lot can be don on a LG but having the ability of both a press and LG will open new inspirations . Where is your press build WIP ?

 

[RyanW]

Did you cut into it? I can only wait so long Mike!

Looking great, and can't wait to see some finished blades in this stuff...

 

[Phil Dwyer]

Where is your press build WIP ?

Hey, ya???

 

[Mike Turner]

OK so hope I made you all suffer long enough , so here she is.


512 layers of "W's".

And a shot to show the size of this billet.

In the next few days I will be rough forging a blade for a customer and will post a pic of the forged blade to show how the pattern will chase the blade.

Thanks for watching and please feel free to ask questions or comment.

 

[Cfin]

I agree with beprepared, I had no idea of the work involved. Pretty impressive.

 

[Mike Turner]

Thanks Cfin, I like doing these WIP's to help other smiths out that may want to try these but it also helps to enlighten those that do not make this pattern welded steel, as to how much really goes into making these beautiful patterns.

Stay tuned we will have another update soon.

 

[Big Chris]

So, when you forge a blade will you forge it oriented as it sets in your hand, tip towards your fingers and tang at palm?
About what size knife will that piece make?

Very impressive and thanks for sharing.

 

[redmech]

Thank you for taking us along on some of what goes into this. Nice work.