WIP - Tiny Balls (Damascus that is)

[bullet101]

Sorry couldn't help myself with the thread title .

Been getting a lot of shoptime lately so I thought I should post some pics of what I have been up to. And everybody loves a good WIP anyway.

This WIP is gonna be about a knife made from bearing balls I got my hands on recently. So sit back and enjoy. There's gonna be some random shop advice mixed in this, so bear with me.

Here's the good stuff. It's just a little sample though, when it comes to tiny balls I'm set for life .

I put the balls along with pure nickel powder and a middle layer in a canister. Didn't shoot any pics when I made the canister as I was planning on doing this thread, but then again we've all seen what a piece of square steel tubing looks like. But here are some nice shoots of the powerhammer action. Not sure if it's the actual billet but you get the idea.

After milling of the steel tube on my crappy little mill, I forged the steel out some more as it was still a little to thick for my taste.

After getting down to a good size I grabbed a piece of paper and started to jotting out some ideas. Made something similar in regular size before. This one is still a very useable size but also has the cutsy look I like to go for with my smaller blades.

I now switched from Edding to a white laquer pen for marking my steel, as I really hate how Edding disappears on you during profiling.

 

[bullet101]

Before we actually get started here's a few shop safety remarks.

I'm using a quality face mask with particel and fume/vapor filter (as you can see I'm a sucker for 3M products ). You wouldn't believe how much crap gets released in the air during grinding, hardening or just wiping down a blade with Acetone. Before I just used particle filters and the difference now is amazing. I basically put the thing on as soon as I enter the shop.

When I'm just doing some handsanding on blades or other non-dusty work, I'll have the air filter on top running anyway.

Don't forget your ears either. Since I'm wearing glasses I prefer plugs, but even they take out like 30 db. And I'm also switching to a full face shield to protect my precious eyes.

And here's another invaluable tip. Keep your shop clean!

My shop does look a little cluttered once I get busy, but at least every second day I clean house. That includes sweeping, dusting with compressed air and putting everything back where it belongs.
I know it's hard to clean up after a full day of work but it is kind of rewarding. It's so much more pleasant to work in a clean space. And any failures can be swept away as well for a fresh start.

That was some of the random shop advice I was warning you about .

Enough rambling for now, let's get back to business. All the forging aficionados should look away now. The following is not for the faint of heart .

I'm using a flex (angle grinder that is) to remove some of the larger chunks. Then it's a 40 grit Cubitron and full power on the grinder.

Putting a bucket right under your grinder also helps to catch a lot of the dust.

 

[bullet101]

To get the rest of the knife in shape I use all possible spots the KMG has to offer.

As you can see you can get pretty darn nice radii on the edge of the platten. All you need is a steady hand and some patience. I'm still planing on getting a dedicated horizontal grinder for that.

That's what we got so far.

All that's left to do is to deburr the blank. I'm using old grinding belt sections for that. The hard backing also helps to prevent any accidental cuts. And then we end up with this. I know you can't really tell the difference, just wanted to be thorough.

 

[Rowanwood]

More Please!!!!

 

[turk.919]

Where do you get your large ball bearings? I have been needing some for a project.

 

[bullet101]

@turk.919: Got a whole bunch through a friend who got them through work. I'm selling some of them over here, but I guess that's not an option for you.

Using some ferric chloride I made the center layer visible so I can properly precision grind the blank.

Before I used my beltgrinder for getting the blank nice and flat. But in retrospect I have no idea how I lived without a surface grinder. It's a million times more pleasant to work with a absolutely flat piece of steel. Don't know if it's a good or bad thing that I'm so anal about flattening steel.

Finally there's no more ruining finished blades by trying to hit the flats with a 400 grit belt. Though I think I'm gonna build myself a disk grinder for the quick flattening jobs. Gonna have to bother Rob Frink with another overseas order again .

We're starting out with 5,38 mm.

Since the blank has a middle layer I need to be careful when flat grinding it. Otherwise I'll end up with a totally of center middle layer. For that I'm using the knowledge I acquired during my university studies. Well, I'm using at least the lecture notes .

The surface grinder is my beloved Jung G60. And I'm currently in the process of putting on a modification so I can also run belts for the quick and dirty work.

Grinding one side till it's fairly flat. Then it's of to the vice to correct any bends in the blade, as the magnetic table will flatten anything during grinding. But of course that doesn't last.

And back to my trusty grinder. I'm always flattening a section the full width of the wheel and then later make on final run to get everything flat. Saves an incredible amount of time. Here I needed three full width passes.

Can't believe I used to stand in front of my machine like an idiot, watching it making 5 mm cross steps while taking of 0.001 at a time .

 

[bullet101]

Since I'm not using a coolant the wheel is clogging up after a while. So I give it a pass or two on the diamond for the final finish pass.

You can already see the difference between the bearing balls and the pure nickel. The surface on the tip doesn't matter since it'll be ground of anyway.

Flipping over and grinding the other side perfectly flat now as well. I'm using another piece of paper to protect the surface on the other side.

Precision grinding has to be the most relaxing work I do in the shop. It's really soothing to have the hydraulic table whizzing away while watching a perfectly flat piece of steel emerging .

Almost two hours and 0,4 mm later we finally have a flat blade blank. I'm sure I can speed that up with some more practice and the belt attachment. But still I think it's time well spent, as it's the foundation for all the work to follow.

Next up is the actual blade grind.

 

[bullet101]

And don't give me crap about the surface of my magnet, I know it sucks .

Although I made sure to center the middle layer during flat grinding, I etched the edge again to have some orientation during grinding.

As you can see the center layer tends to bulge out at the ends of the billet. But that doesn't matter since most of it will be ground away as well.

Laying out the grind.

And of we go.

Nice and easy working up the blade. Always keeping the blade fairly cool and checking that it's actually flat. On the second pic you can see a little block I made.

I used to do all my work resting on my fingernail. But when roughing out a blade you have to cool like every few seconds, at least with my delicate fingers .

Using the block you have the same control and can keep grinding even when the blade get's a little warm. Depending on the height of the blade you should have different blocks. The final grinding after HT is still done without the block. Here it's actually positive that you are forced to cool of the blade constantly.

 

[bullet101]

Here are two more pics to show that I can grind with my left hand as well . Actually you should start with your weak hand so you can equal things out with the other one.

Ground the blade out to 0,8 mm before HT. As you can see the edge is a little thicker in the recurve part. Have to take care of that during the final grinding.

Before HT I make sure to remove any big grinding scratches across the edge. I'm heat treating with a 40 grit finish and never had any problems. So I don't want to test my luck by leaving dedicated breaking points in the edge.

I'm hardening in my gasforge running on a low temp and checking with a magnet. As quenchant I use dedicated Durixol hardening oil. In the last pic you can see that I put some aluminum plates between tongs and blade. Since the knife is going to stay naked I don't want any big scratches in there.

Afterwards I'm giving the blade a quick touch on the grinder and then put it in the oven at 200 degrees for an hour. You can already make out the pattern on the end of the handle.

Next up final grinding, hand finishing and etching.

 

[bullet101]

Just so you don't get the wrong impression I didn't do all of this in a single day. Although I guess I could if I wanted to.

And on to the final grinding. I'm going 40, 120 and then 240 grit. I'm constantly checking with marking fluid if I'm hitting all the right spots.
I'm roughing in the false edge with the 120 grit as well.

Since I ran out of 400 grit belts I'm starting to hand rub with 240 grit shop roll. 3M again of course .

Here's my little helper, that prevents my finger from cramping up after too much hand sanding. As you can see I also abused it as a canvas for my Deckel pantograph.

 

[bullet101]

And here's the preliminary result. The Ricasso get's some extra marking fluid to get rid of those stubborn scratches in there. Since it's not gonna get a handle I satin finish the flats as well. Here the ugly magnet comes in handy again .

Grinding the edges of the handle and putting a phase on them.

Hand sanding again to get rid of some additional scratches.

 

[bullet101]

Placing my small logo right in one of the bearing balls.

And some more handsanding .

Before doing anything else it's time to clean the shop again.

During etching for the first time I missed a spot during degreasing. So I had to hand sand some more .

Last night I gave it another run. And this time I degreased religiously for like half an hour. Here's the last pic for this WIP.

It's got all you need for a proper etch. Ajax (degreaser for the kitchen in powder form) and sponge, Nitril gloves (more robust than Latex), a nicely hand sanded Damascus blade and ....

big surprise, cheap instant coffee :spew:.

Yes you heard me. It's the big new thing in the German Damascus scene and rightly so. It takes forever but it will leave you with an amazing black and white etch, even with steels that produce almost no contrast with ferric or other etchants.

And I can't stress enough how important it is to make sure that the blade is totally fat and oil free. Especially with a very mild etchant like instant coffee.

Aceton or similar stuff won't cut it. They're okay to get most of the oil and fat of but they leave some sort of residue that will ruin your etch.

So for the final degreasing I recommend Ajax (or the US equivalent). It won't scratch the finish (unless you rub it in a 90 degree angle to the finish) and will get of any fats or oils. s

Since the whole process is a little messy and my camera has a nice oily patina from spending so much time in the shop, I didn't dare to touch it to make more pics. Another failed etch would have been hard to live down for me.

But I think everyone knows what a jar full of instant coffee looks like . I left it in there for 8 hours and then rinsed the blade and doused it in WD40.
Depending on how strong you want your etch to be you can leave it in for longer or shorter periods of time.

Here's the finished knife now:

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=745346

I hope you guys liked the whole thing as much as I did. Sometimes it's actually good to have to stop the process to take pictures. Makes for some more thoughtful knifemaking.

Not sure when I'll do another WIP, since I have to crank out some blades and a couple of pounds of Damascus to pay for my shop improvements. But I think I'm gonna snap a pic or two for your delight anyway .

If there are any questions feel free to ask.

Looking forward to your comments.

Best regards

Marcus

P.S.: Here's a little preview of my next project. I christened it "Operation Blue Balls" :roflmao:.

 

[Bama]

That looks awesome I actually have several bearings only I do not have a powerhammer.
Anthony

 

[amcardon]

That looks fantastic! Well done Marcus! I really like that "blue balls" canister, excited to see how that turns out!

 

[Edro20]

Ummm...WOW. Cant' take in or understand all of that, but WOW.

 

[Mace]

cool thread....wish my shop was that clean!!!
Mace

 

[DrThunder88]

Gorgeous knife! That's the most creative use of balls I've ever seen online.

 

[Hengelo_77]

Cool stuff!
But instant coffee? Mixed with water and the blade left in there for a while?

 

[NickWheeler]

AWESOME thread my friend... Great work all the way through.

"operation blue balls"..... ROFLMAO... hilarious