First attempt at “Damascus”

[Bionic]

Ok, I know technically it’s pattern welded rather than true Damascus steel but it’s a bit catchier for the thread title
This is actually my first attempt not only at pattern welding but also at forging a knife rather than making one by stock removal (thought I might as well cross two firsts off at once). It has a cutting edge of approximately 3inches and is 8 inches long over all and made with a combination of 1070 and 15N20 steel. I had planned on making it 3mm thick but got a bit carried away hammering so it’s now closer to 2.5mm The scales are yew with red liners and brass Corby bolts.

View attachment 50495

 

[crosslandkelly]

Stunning.

 

[Dave Budd]

nicely done on the pattern welding

A twist is a great pattern for making use of low layer counts and relatively little work. The downside is that it also puts a tremendous strain on your welds, especially if using thin stock and having low layer counts. That looks to me to be maybe 5 layers, so well done on good solid welds and twisting at the right temperature to not split it open or tear it in half!

 

[Woody110]

nicely done on the pattern welding

A twist is a great pattern for making use of low layer counts and relatively little work. The downside is that it also puts a tremendous strain on your welds, especially if using thin stock and having low layer counts. That looks to me to be maybe 5 layers, so well done on good solid welds and twisting at the right temperature to not split it open or tear it in half!

Dave, what do you know? Hehehe

Lovely knife though, I wish I had the skills.

 

[Bionic]

Thanks chaps. It’s actually made up of 10 alternating layers, I planned on folding it 4/5 times as well as giving it a twist but I have to admit I underestimated just how much hard, physical work would be involved hammering wise especially for a cripple such as myself. All in all I’m probably 70% happy with it but more importantly I feel that I learnt a lot along the way as well as gaining a real appreciaton for the skills of some of the excellent bladesmiths that display their wares on BCUK

 

[Mesquite]

Very nicely done

Reminds me a bit of zebra stripes

 

[Broch]

A piece to be proud of. There are times on this forum when I find it inspiring and other times when the work is so good I wonder why I try

 

[Janne]

Fantastic!

 

[Dave Budd]

Thanks chaps. It’s actually made up of 10 alternating layers, I planned on folding it 4/5 times as well as giving it a twist but I have to admit I underestimated just how much hard, physical work would be involved hammering wise especially for a cripple such as myself. All in all I’m probably 70% happy with it but more importantly I feel that I learnt a lot along the way as well as gaining a real appreciaton for the skills of some of the excellent bladesmiths that display their wares on BCUK

ah ten loosely twisted layers, they looked more coarse. Nevertheless, nicely done A better way to get layer count up is to draw it out longer and restack into 3 or more layers; that way you can triple or quadruple each time and the fewer stacking/welding cycles you do then the less wastage of time and material you have. It also means that you can make several billets up and work on them when you have time or energy, then put them all together and have a bigger blade without the need to be working down a whopping big lump from the outset

I taught a chap to make a multibar pattern welded seax a couple of years ago using only period correct tools and materials. The blade I made as a dry run ended up at about 13" long and 8mm thick and no billet in it's making was larger than a modern mars bar; all done by hand hammer and with a hand cranked blower in charcoal (though for his course we used bellows instead). I did it in one sitting, but you could easily do something like that over the course of a few weeks.

 

[snappingturtle]

Have a cigar! that's good work there.