Will W.

I laughed a little too hard at all of these lol.

Agreed.

Don't you hate that. Everything I make, people say "that looks great! How did you do that? Wow! Etc. Etc." But in my head, I'm always thinking "I should have polished it more, that pin is a little off center, that scroll is too tight/that scroll isn't tight enough, it's not perfectly symmetrical, etc." We are our harshest critics, I suppose.

CMS3900 Thank you for the reply. I'll have to look into the powdered steel. I'm still weary about the soak time. I'll have to just try it and figure it out. That's a good point, Thomas. I would have liked to see that swarf blade. The pattern must have been interesting. A large coffee can full must have made a big blade, even after compressing it.

I had not thought about that. And if there's enough SiC inside that can, it could cause an inclusion, or just inhibit welding. Thanks for the tidbit. I'm very interested in what the pattern will look like. Come what may, I'll probably end up making a high carbon can and welding everything together, just to sate my curiosity. Wolfjohn I don't believe annealing the bearings will have any effect. After all, they will be up to forge welding temp at some point, so any heat treatment you do to it will be null and void at that moment.

I meant to, I apologize. The little curly bits from around the drill press are also high carbon. Lanternnate I considered that. But I expect once the high carbon can is welded to everything inside, then drawn out, then flattened and shaped into a knife, the pattern will still be visible, no? Maybe not quite as well as with the can removed? I'm definitely not an expert, by the way, so I'm speculating.

The only steel that sees a file in my shop 90% of the time is hardenable. Im usually filing knives. Even if there is a little mild in with everything else, carbon diffusion will help.

Hello everyone. I've recently acquired a few CV axles from a friend of mine, and while disassembling them for the steel, I came upon quite a few ball bearings, which I quickly snatched up (though I hadn't even considered them prior.) I am now wondering about mixing them with some other little pieces of high carbon steel and doing a canister Damascus knife. I've made Damascus before, but I have never tried this before, so I have a few questions, which I couldn't find answers for, after several hours of searching. I apologize if I overlooked something. Every time I've seen canister Damascus being made, people use mild steel tubing, with ends welded on. Then they have to go through the trouble of keeping the tubing from sticking to the higher carbon steel inside, and having to peel off the mild can. Why not use high carbon steel and fabricate a tube out of that? And just forge weld it right to everything else? It seems like a good way to circumvent all the problems, in my head at least. I'm curious about how it would affect the final pattern as well. I know that grinder swarf is generally pretty contaminated stuff (lots of silicon carbide and aluminum oxide usually mixed in), but if I "filter" it (running a strong magnet by it multiple times) to remove anything but steel, would it be alright to use in the can? I also plan on using filings and the curly bits from around the drill press. I assume these are good to go, since both were made strictly by steel on steel contact. Lastly, I understand that canister welding needs a good long soak to get everything inside the can up to temp, but I'm picturing actually doing it in my head, and I can't figure out a way to accurately tell when everything is ready. Anybody have a tip or two for telling when the internal steel is all up to temp? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

I must respectfully disagree with your assessment. In *my personal experience* I've had some pretty good luck with the dewalt discs. I've never tried Pferd, however. I'll have to give them a try sometime.

As far as power tools go, it depends a lot on how you take care of them. I have a porter cable 4.5" angle grinder that I've used almost daily for a few years now (I realize that's not extremely long), got it for like 40 dollars and it runs just fine still. Just as strong as any dewalt or milwaukee that ive ever run. So long as you don't really push your equipment, give them some breaks during heavy use, and dont dog it down all the time, they will hold up decently well. Consumables, though... Different story. I've had dewalt cut off discs, which were expensive, that I've made probably two dozen cuts with before they either shred or are too small to even use. The ones you get at harbor freight though? Like 8 dollars for 10 of them, or whatever they are? I've had those shred within seconds on the very first cut! I'm a self proclaimed cheapskate, and even I realize that sometimes it's more efficient and affordable to pay up to get the quality.

I hate to seem arguementative Steve, but I refused nothing. I merely said I had to dig a little deeper. I had already read the pinned topic a while ago, but apparently it slipped my memory that the information was there, or maybe I overlooked it back then. I suppose it would have been wise to re-read that first before digging through the threads. I apologize for my ignorance. Regarding the A2, I realize an oil quench may be a little extreme for that alloy, but that's what makes the question so perplexing in my opinion. I was unaware that O1 could air harden in a thin cross section. As always, thank you for the knowledge.

Thank you for the response Latticino. It seems like an odd combination of steels, I know. The main premise was combining air hardening, oil hardening, and water hardening steels. I also assumed the oil quench would be the best route, as it's sort of the happy medium, if you will.

Apologies. I thought it would fit better in general discussion, but I suppose it is about a knife after all. I tried to find info on this subject. I guess I'll have to dig a little deeper.

Hello all. I have had a theoretical metallurgical question rattling around in my head for a few days now. It seems impractical, in truth, and I'm never going to attempt this. Just food for thought. Let's say that someone welded up a billet containing W2, O1, and A2, with the goal of making a knife. How would one go about heat treating this knife? Since it contains water hardening, oil hardening, and air hardening steels, I see no effective way to actually do it. Keep in mind I'm not a master bladesmith or an expert metallurgist. It's probably more advisable to just not make a knife from all three but it's a question that I've been pondering for some time, and I want to see what other members think of it.

Well done, it looks really nice. What were the alloys used?

Whooooa... That's a beaut right there! Fantastic work, as mentioned, the contrast between the light bone and dark blade looks stunning, a fact that the pattern weld only adds to.

Well that is not what I pictured when I read the thread title. I thought it was going to be a giant pocket knife, essentially. The idea is definitely unique (and pretty awesome IMO) but I'm with Frosty on this one. Needs more brainstorming. Is there no way to fold it edge in? How would that sheath work? And (although it will likely never have to) how quickly can it be deployed and readied? It's concealed for a reason, after all... Still, awesome idea and great work making it a reality. Also, I'm curious... What are the dimensions?

6 inches of tang is pretty long, but it all depends on what you're going for. But WOW that thing is definitely beefy! No doubt there. That time lapse video was interesting as well. Thanks for sharing that.

Whoa! Looks great, nice work

I understand completely. Luckily, the animals don't mind lending me theirs.

Interesting idea. Though I agree that there are more efficient processes. The part I'm confused about is that you mention "cutting" charcoal, several times. The charcoal I make, if it's too big, I can just snap it in half right at the forge with 0 effort.

Probably due mostly to lack of knowledge. I prescribe a few hours of forging and research, no less than two times per week. The condition should clear up within a few weeks.

Glad to hear it! Maybe you could help me find all my lost drill bits too?

Going off of what SLAG said, anybody consider using brain tanned leather?

Looking good so far. What do you plan to use as an etchant? And what are the current dimensions?