ajkbruin

thanks for the compliments and thank you for your help with polishing and etching. Very much appreciated!!

thanks guys, I ordered some 15n20 from Jantz supply and made up another billet with this steel (1095 I think) here are the results... It's a Pi pendant that I made for a friend who just got a job as a math teacher It is clear that there is no 15n20 in the other billet

sorry, this has been hardened

hey guys sorry I took so long to get back to you but here is the billet after polishing to 600 grit and etching. It's definitely the same steel.

That's good to hear, I didn't think he did it on purpose something might have just got mixed up like you said. We'll see!

thank you for all of the replies! I will heat treat and etch as Rich says and let you guys know what happens. John, I am pretty sure those bright lines are "interweld" lines. Thank you for the compliment on my welds too I am very happy to hear that they look good :) Steve, I got these metals from rakerknives.com from Ray Kirk. I just ordered some new steel from Jantz which is due here Thursday. I'll weld up a billet of that and then compare the two before I send Ray a message

i polished them to a 220 grit finish and then etched them in 50/50 ferric chloride and water for about 10 minutes both materials started out at 1/16th of an inch thick and to me it looks like the bright layers are only at the weld lies between each layer. The contrast in the pictures is much more visible than in person I'll try quenching the small piece and see what happens oh I should also say that the top picture is 2 layers of 15n20 to 1 layer of 1095

this is with an etch

This is my second attempt at welding up a damascus billet and as you can see from the pictures there is not much definition between layers. The materials used are 1095 and 15n20 but I suspect that the guy I ordered from gave me all the same steel. Can someone else validate that or tell me what I might be doing wrong? Thanks guys These are samples from two different billets

Thanks again everyone, I'll have to really think about this for a while. I might just fill in the pits and the chipped edges and leave the sway alone. I got the anvil for free so I would be happy to invest some time and money into fixing it up to perfect working condition. They are hard to find around here (CT) so I'd rather spend my time and money fixing this old beauty than trying to find another. I'll keep you guys posted on any work that I do to this anvil

Thanks everyone I appreciate the feedback. I've been forging on it for about a month now and the only thing that really annoys me is that it has a sag across the width of the anvil so sometimes if i hit that spot just right the work will act like a level and really wrench on my wrist pretty good, sometimes it pops out of the tongs and goes flyin. Also some of the pits are really deep and there isn't much of a truly flat surface anywhere on the face. I would like to just grind part of it flat but I know that the plates on PWs are not very thick to begin with and with the amount of use this anvil has gotten over the years it's probably even thinner so i'm nervous of grinding through it or making it too thin. Is it really a crazy amount of work to fill in the cross-sag (for lack of a better term) and the pits with weld?

the sag is only about 3/16ths of an inch

thanks, i have a couple of pics on my computer but i'll go take some better ones. Here's a couple for now

Hey guys I'm new here and to forging so I apologize if a similar topic exists... I recently got a Peter Wright anvil (roughly 250#) in rough shape (sagged, chipped edge, pitted face.) I have been researching anvil repair and with a MIG welder the recommended wire is Rankin DDG for the top coat. That is harder to find so I was wondering what your opinion of this Lincor 60-0 is. Do you think it is comparable? http://www.lincolnelectric.com/en-us/Consumables/Pages/product.aspx?product=Products_Consumable_HardfacingConsumables-Lincore-Lincore60-O%28LincolnElectric%29

This method is pretty simple and looks awesome