September 17, 201114 yr Here is another example of some of my pattern welded work. This clock is about 13" tall by 4" wide and made from the same steel but using two types of ladder pattern. The pattern, I think gets its name from the way the light plays and reflects from the surface, but the surface on both of these steel plates is perfectly flat. Here is a more detailed photo, Mick.
September 19, 201114 yr You're leaving me speechless Mick. Anyone here can tell you how unlikely that is. Frosty the Lucky.
September 19, 201114 yr Wow. In my (admittedly rather uninformed) opinion, that's art! I'd be proud to have it on my mantle, and even prouder if I'd made it.
September 20, 201114 yr Absolutely stunning work, and I second it being really nice to see pattern welded stock used for something that isn't sharp and pointy.
October 1, 201114 yr Absolutely stunning work, and I second it being really nice to see pattern welded stock used for something that isn't sharp and pointy. Looks kinda "pointy" to me.
October 2, 201114 yr Extraordinary effect! The top is a Ladder pattern, that I understand, but why is the bottom also considered a ladder? And how did you achieve the concentric circles? Truly awesome work! Thanks for sharing. Robert
October 3, 201114 yr Rob, if you ever get a chance to go to the Deutches Klingen Museum in Solingen Germany you can see a number of machined "tools" for imprinting patterns like that. I believe that Manfred Sasche's Damascus Steel book shows some of them too.
October 3, 201114 yr Extraordinary effect! The top is a Ladder pattern, that I understand, but why is the bottom also considered a ladder? And how did you achieve the concentric circles? Truly awesome work! Thanks for sharing. Robert The method is the same for both: the typical ladder at the top is made with straight cuts, the bottom is done with smaller and smaller circle cuts.
October 3, 201114 yr Forgot to mention "Jaw droppingly beautiful"! (If you consider a ladder pattern to be a set of parallel groves in the billet---well those grooves are just circular ones...gives me an idea for one I can make with my screwpress though---take some steel wire and bend it to a form and squish it in when hot---may try some cursive writing or my maker's mark...Of course you would do one side and then grind it flat and do the other...)
October 3, 201114 yr Author There are really only two ways to cause the disruption to the pattern. As has been mentioned you can emboss a pattern into the steel and then you grind it all back to flat. Or you remove metal to create grooves and then forge it all back to a flat bar. I always think it is good to get the brain going so I won't say how the concentric ladder pattern was done, but it was not pressed in. Putting the grooves in was the easy bit then all you have to do is forge it so the pattern stays circular. Mick.
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