Search the Community

hello, I posted a while back and finally got my forge design up and going. I was wondering if anyone new a good place to look for steel to use for Pattern welding? (Other than a steel supply place) basically looking for cheap/scrap I can use to get a start into it. Thanks!

Finally finished #2. I welded the billet a couple years ago, and in between other projects and knee surgery recovery, I shaped it by a combination of belt grinder (not real keen on that yet. Still practicing on scrap), draw filing and finally hand sanding to 600 grit before acid etch (muratic warmed in a tray of hot water). Several firsts in this second knife include home made mosaic pins, the patterning methods as well the handle material of which I made several years ago and kept it floating around the shop until it found the proper project. Eventually I will make a sheath from Kydex (another first) to keep with the theme of all man made materials. . The blade material is commercial band saw blade (Lenox, IIRC) and pallet banding. Both are 1.25" or 31.75mm wide. The saw blade is about .06" or 1.52mm thick and the banding slightly thinner. I started with a stack of 21 total layers with the saw blade on the outside (11 and 10) and welded cut in 3 re welded and did some random twist for patter. (don't ask how; I regretfully, didn't make notes) So, roughly, 63 layers not counting scale loss. The handle material is home made micarta consisting of acrylic resin saturated olive drab polyester (military issue ;) ) The pins are my first attempt at mosaic pins. I don't have a layer count for it but after pressing and curing, it was about a half inch or 1.27cm. Overall length is 8.5" or 21.6cm with a 4.5" or 11.43cm blade. For your approval:

I am making my 33 ton log splitter double as a press for doing pattern welding only. Using the railroad rails shown below. I have them each cut into 6" pieces. My question for more experienced is should I alter the working surface of the dies or leave as they are....I will only use for making billets. I wasn't sure if I should grind them to be flatter or leave with the slight rounding on one side as can be seen.

Here is another billet from my forge (Union Forge). This one has three layers of 15N20 sandwiched between 4 layers of 66 layer Damascus (had 1084, 1095 and 15N20 in it) from another project. Total layer count is 267. Ground a ladder and cross pattern into it. I couldn't wait to see what it looked like so I ground to 220 grit, cleaned it up and dropped into ferric chloride etchant. Happy with results so far. Will now start the knife part next.

Here is a pendant that I made from a small piece of leftover billet - It is a 66 layer billet made from 1095, 1084 and 15n20.

I wanted to try my hand at pattern welding. Had read several places that recommended starting with bandsaw blades and pallet strapping. I just recently stumbled on a small supply of each and went for it. I put together a stack, alternating 15 pieces of sawblade and 14 pieces of strapping. I used 20 Mule Team Borax... probably more generously than necessary lol. But I did manage to forge weld it into a -cough- billet. I then put a gentle twist along it. Flattened it to about 1/4" by about 1/2" Curious s to how it had turned out, I ground a section basically smooth so I could try to see what sort of patterning I'd come up with. Here is the ground and slightly polished piece before etching.http://www.iforgeiron.com/uploads/gallery/category_2/gallery_28530_2_78218.jpg Please forgive the inclusions and cold shunts... I believe I have seen where I screwed up and will try to do better on the next one. I still went on to etch and see the pattern.http://www.iforgeiron.com/uploads/gallery/category_2/gallery_28530_2_41846.jpg I didn't have any of what I could find in the forums and online as etching agents and was about to hunt down a Radio Shack for some Ferric Chloride when I remembered an experiment I had seen, Putting several small balls of aluminum foil in a plastic bottle with about an inch-and-a-half of a certain brand toilet bowl cleaner.http://www.iforgeiron.com/uploads/gallery/category_2/gallery_28530_2_53092.jpg The Works has 20% Hydrogen Chloride. This is the result after fifteen minutes in the solution at room temperature. I used a buffing cone on my dremel to polish the surface somewhat. http://www.iforgeiron.com/uploads/gallery/category_2/gallery_28530_2_13978.jpg I'm actually pretty happy with what I've learned and look forward to a more successful next attempt. Any advice or comments? Anyone else used this cheap method for etching? Or is there an even cheaper method I don't know about?