Johnnyreb338

Thanks Steve My main question was will the heat still trapped in the clay affect the hardness of the edge that was quenched. Or do I need to get the clay off as soon after the quenching as possible. My question was directed more towards the hardness of the blade rather than the hamon as a byproduct.

Good afternoon friends. I just recently started using clay and trying to do differential hardening instead of a full quench. I'm working with some thin blades and thought it would be good to have the flexibility being of a softer back. Also like the hamon line on these longer blades. I'm working with o1 steel 1/8 " thick . My question is after I have heated and soaked the blade in the forge. I only do an edge quench, I don't submerge the whole blade. That leaves the clayed part of the blade still very hot. Do I need to remove the clay as soon as possible after the quenching process to keep the residual heat from migrating back into the quenched area of the blade. Or does it matter. I've noticed sometimes it flakes off on its own and it's still glowing red inside and just has me concerned. Thanks

Cocobolo is my favorite wood to work with With African Blackwood coming in second

Thank Stan I done the mokume myself but the mosaic pin is store bought.

Good afternoon c1 tool Yes the handle is awkward for actually chopping meat on a table. I drawer out a proper cleaver and the customer kept changing and making it smaller, then he said he wanted a curved handle. So this was the end result. Other than that it's got great balance and feel.

Hi Dylan. Yes sir. They are a bit thick but not uncomfortable. These scales were huge to start with it took me while to grind them to fit the taper but I didn't want to grind all the bark off the outside tho. A big handed fellow won't have any problems I don't think.

Well vacation ended, back to work finishing this baby first. The steel is from a 60's era ford truck springs. A little file work on the spine with some coin mokume bolsters and a nice tapered spine in the handle. The pins are s/s with a nice mosaic tube. This was my first ever sheath, it's not perfect but I think it turned out pretty good considering it's our first attempt. My wife is a big into horse stuff and wants to learn the leather working side so it may work out to my advantage. Cut down on some external cost of having to 3rd party the leather.

I use jb weld, the set time is 4-6 hrs, it's still an epoxy but very slow. The slower an epoxy takes to cure usually yealds a better bond and is much stronger.

Well Cut off a smaller piece

Randall. A good place to get useable scrap is to find a diesel repair shop and get in good with someone. Mudflat hanger rods are 3/4 square by about 2' long and are very hardnenable , they usally have plenty of large bearing races, large leaf springs, old broken axles etc... everything you find at an auto shop but much bigger. More bang for your buck.

Afternoon Mr. Thomas No website for info. Mostly I was speculating with what little information I have. Afternoon Frosty I'll buy that answer. The documentary I watched was just showing the process of blooming iron and touched a little on how they converted it into ingots and basically said that most of the crucible steel was supplied by India. The rest was just me grabing at straws.

Afternoon everyone. Just food for thought. May not be worth anything but I'm just trying to be an active member of the board. iron was bloomed/smelted in India and formed into steel by them in the form of crucible billitsteel. Then trade routes ended up in damascus where the blade smith/ armor's took the bill it's and made the swords. The swords ended up on the battlefield where supplies were limited ,but the blacksmiths found a way to combine broken swords and such to keep troops armed. Much in the same sense that German soligen steel gets its name, from soligen Germany. I watched a show on natgeo where they were talking about India being the largest maker of bloomed, and crucible steel back in the day and used the billits for trade. Sounds good anyway.

Good afternoon Randell Good luck to you, hope you have better luck than I have had. I spent about 6 hours this morning beating my brains out, hand shaping and grinding only to have it delaminate from a cold shut down the middle of the blade. It swelled up like a balloon. I had a bunch of cutoffs of 8670, 52100 and 15n20 so I decided to try a 14 layer san mai style ( 7 plates then cut length ways and reweld) . I'm having a hard time coming to terms with this whole damascus thing. I have no press so it's all heat and beat, too much work only to have it fail in the end. I put it in the vice and broke it in 2 places,it appeared that the initial billit welded up great but the restack failed even tho I ground both pieces prior to reweld. I know everyone tells me that with 5160 you need a fairly aggressive flux to weld it. Mabey you'll have better luck than I.

Well I like it, cool handle where did you get them from.

Thanks everyone for the speedy replies, sounds like I will be sending these out for treatment.