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.

Very nice!  A truly fantastic first.

For the color of the hamon question, the color is a function of the polish not the etch.  In Japanese swords, they use a suspension of iron oxide to darken the blade. The darkening action is achieved by a burnishing affect of the oxide suspension.  The hamon is then polished with a slightly coarser stone, the scratches showing as white in comparison to the darker blade.

The iron oxide tends not to work as well on modern steel though, personally I have had good luck with Mother's Mag Polish.  Then I use pumice powder to whiten the hamon.   Google hamons and hybrid polish and you should be able to find some more info.

The  temperature  used for heat treating shouldn't create excessive scale, especially  given the typically short time span involved in heat treating.

Just try to heat the blade evenly, and don't go to far above non-magnetic and you'll be fine.

If we aren't pushing ourselves, no one will.

Normalize 3 times then harden,  temper immediately after hardening.

Not sure what the exact heat treat specs would be,  personally I go just above non-magnetic, hold it a bit and then quench in oil.  May not be getting the maximum performance from the steel, but it makes a decent blade.  For your tempering temperature, you will need to experiment a bit to find the best balance of hardness and toughness.

The pre-polish powder I get at harbor freight. It comes in a rock tumbler polish powder kit.  The pumice powder I get online, I use 2f and 4f.  As far as fineness of the grade I would compare the pre-polish powder to the 2f pumice, but it is harder and cuts a bit faster.  For backing, I use a block of micarta, or hardwood, then a couple of layers of soft cloth, finally the finest grade of sand paper I have.  The powders are actually a bit coarser than the paper, so it has a whitening effect on the blade, but it is not the fineness of the polish, rather the detail we are bringing out that is important.  I use the powder till I can clearly see the hamon and any ashi. Then I use the mother's mag polish above the hamon, applied with a soft rag. This burnishes the blade darkening it, if all goes well the blade is dark above the hamon and whiter below.  I typically finish with hot vinegar and flitz.  These last couple steps can get mixed around depending on the results I'm looking for/getting,  and may be repeated.

With your decision to scrap the blade, was it the overall shape of the hamon you didn't like or a lack of activity?  Just curious.

-Justin

Personally I would try to get the polish right before scrapping it.  It's been my experience that much of the hamon's activity isn't going to be visible until it has been properly polished.

While ferric seems popular, I think it tends to wash out some of the finer detail.  I like to go as high as I can with paper, usually between 1500 and 3000g depending on what's available, then I use a powdered abrasive,  either pumice powder or "pre-polish" from a rock tumbling set.  After a bit with the powder most of the details become visible, then I give it a couple baths in hot vinegar.  Clean it with flitz and call it good, maybe some mother's mag polish above the hamon to darken it.

I can definitely see your decision to throw it away if your not entirely happy with it. That kind of drive is what will keep pushing your work to the next level. Personally though, I would take this blade as an opportunity  to practice polishing, just to see what you can get out of it.

Wow, that is one XXXXXX of a first effort, and with a beautiful hamon to boot!

Please read IFI's rules about language

Looking good sir,  I'll keep my eyes out for pics once it's finished.

Also is that the Wuertz surface grinding attachment?  How do you like it?  How is it's precision?

Thanks, Justin

  In what way does the ABS say what kind of knives it's members can make?

Weird, not sure why my last post didn't work.

Anyway,  what I was trying to say is that,  I've had similar results with subsequent welds requiring a good cleaning and being fairly flat.  One thing that I've found really helps is to give the billet a gentle squeeze in the press as soon as it's at a good red heat.  This brings everything in close contact before there is any chance of oxides forming in the gaps. Then I put it back in and bring it up to welding heat and set the weld.

  Excellent write up John, thanks for taking the time to share your methods.

  I don't have a thermocouple, which I believe would help, but I have had excellent luck with what I'd call "mostly fluxless" welding.  I follow the same method John described for the first pass on my press.  For the second I add a bit of flux to the edges just to keep everything tight.  Since switching to this technique I haven't had any issues with inclusions, and though I've got a while before my damascus is nearly as nice as John's, this is definately a step in the right direction.

  Dave,  I was having similar experiences with my forge and welding.  Seemed like every time I went on a "damascus binge" it would destroy my forge and I'd have to rebuild it.  Since switching to my variation of the fluxless welding I've had no problems and my forge still looks like new after 8 months.  I suspect that in the long run the high temps will start to break down the lining eventually but you should be able to minimize that by using the high temp kaowool, and keeping a fresh coat of itc-100 on it.