Justin Carnecchia

Not sure of your knife's construction, but I would suggest fitting the guard tightly and using epoxy instead of solder. This way you can finish the two parts separately, without them effecting each other.

Was back looking at your blade once more.. Again beautiful work. The profile, bolsters, the butt of the handle, I really like it all. I'm curious though how you colored the bolsters?? I've tried heat coloring, but never got anything like that.. Was it chemical? Or heat? Or?? Please advise.. Also not seeing any pins? Are they blind? Or did you weld them on? Justin

Beautiful job!! My first thought was an integral bolster, but it's still really cool anyway. I like the way you did the handles too.

I wouldn't use a vise to set the weld if using flux. You need to drive thw flux out when setting the weld. I would also run a bead with the arc welder up the middle of the billet to keep it from bowing. Truthfully you can weld all the seams shut then weld dry with no scale forming at all.. Like when welding with stainless, But at very least keep it all together. You don't want any gaps for junk to get trapped.

Is what it is.. If you felt proud and were happy with it that's what's important. The question for you then becomes what you want to do next, and if it's still making knives then keep at it. My advice, and what was most helpful to me is plan out the knife before you start. I made more than one great looking blade that never turned into a knife because I didn't think ahead to a handle.. I make a detailed drawing of each knife I forge before I start and go from there. Make it full sized and include handle, guard, pins, etc.. Get as close as you can with a hammer and then grind from there. If you work towards a high standard, you'll be surprised how quickly you can get to knives that look like what you want, whatever that may be.

.I don't know much about coal, but I have a couple things that may be helpful. First, flux. Don't over do it. It isnt glue. Any flux that winds up in the billet needs to be squeezed back out before anything welds. Second, your hammer blows energy has to travel all the way through the billet, so don't do a 4" stack. Also make sure your hammering the entire area so all the flux gets squeezed out. Best of luck

Gas or coal?

Definitely clean them up, those should be about the easiest two steels to get to stick. If you give your method, it should be pretty easy to figure out what went wrong.

Wow, you've got some serious hammer dreams! Unbelievable that they still make parts for there hammers. Any idea what their smaller hammers were sized at?

Just read something interesting, apparently small pieces can spontaniously combust. Sounds like tiny little pieces and at higher ambient temperatures, but kind of scary. Have to assume that most little bits are going to burn up as they spark off the grinder but adds a whole different level of being careful.

Grind like you would titanium, being careful with the sparks.. My understanding of the finishing process, as I haven't worked with it, is sand to a high polish, then heat red hot and air cool. Should give the black patina I assume you're looking for. Please post pics when done, I'm sure everyone would like to see how it turns out.

Beautiful work! Thanks for sharing

Can't say for sure since there is no way of knowing what the previous steel you were using was. Yes higher alloyed steel is going to be harder to move, but I wouldn't think that the 1080 is higher than a leaf spring. It's been my experience that leaf springs are pretty hard to forge, but again there's no way of knowing what steel it was. Hat's off to you for doing damascus by hand, it's definately a chore. If this is something you are serious about, you are going to want to start saving for a press or hammer. In the meantime, a spring fuller will help a lot with drawing out the billets, and as long as they aren't too big they should be managable.

The "bump" as you go over the joint is pretty common with higher grits. I want to say that the rotary platen that Beaumont Metal Works makes was designed to help address this issue. I have never used it though so I can't speak from experience. Personally I don't grind much past 200g and if I do it is typically on a slack belt. It has been my experience that it is much harder to get a clean finish with belts once you get to higher grits, so I take it to 200-300g on the grinder then switch to hand sanding at one grit lower than I finished with on the grinder. The only time I use higher grits is when sharpening or when satin finishing parts, both with a slack belt.