Common Welded Damascus Patterns

[Maillemaker]

Good evening all!

Having just completed my first pattern welded knife, my mind turns to the knowledge, or rather lack thereof, pattern welded designs I'm familiar with.

I do know of a few....

Stacked: Simply two or more chemically differing steels, cut and welded on top of each other multiple times without other manipulation.

Cable: A steel cable that has been welded into a solid billet.

Twist: The most basic manipulation of pattern, created by simply twisting the billet.

Serpentine: A slightly more advanced version of Twist, involving several opposing twists through the billet.

Ladder: A stacked billet that has had grooves or notches ground into it, and is then flattened.

Raindrop/Bird's Eye: A stacked billet that has had shallow depressions drilled or ground into it, and is then flattened.


I would like to organize a sort of "Welded Damascus Library". Unfortunately, I've only done one (twist), and don't even have pictures of it. If you pattern weld and would like to share your knowledge, please post a picture and a brief description of how the particular pattern is achieved.

Thank you in advance from all of us lowly smiths that have not yet traveled the road of pattern welds.

[Thomas Dean]

Pictures with said patterns would be great!!

[Steve Sells]

For a great starting point Buy, or Inter Library loan Dr JIm Hrisoulas books. His third, "The pattern welded blade" has many patterns and ways to make then, as I said starting point, after you master these, start on your own!


http://fenrisforge.c...%20Patterns.htm I have a few here.
Zebra Stripe is a ladder pattern using 3 twisted bars, stacked, rather than a flat laminate.
Pool and Eye is drilling random holes in the billet, between the last three folds.
Psychedelic Chevron is 2 bars twisted opposite ways, then do ladder pattern cuts as well as some birds eye holes.
Compound Twist is left overs drawn out thin, then stacked along with mono steel shims, after they are welded up, a loose random twist.
Persian is many twisted in alternate directions, then joined side by side

that is just a start I assume you can figure out the rest of mine as they are common. If not I will add them later.

[basher]

tis endless really .
have a look at the work of Mick Maxen or Daryl Meier or Steve schwarzer ........

or have a look at some saxon patternweld or some of the work by romano celts from 200ad or there abouts at illerup idal not to mention Kris ......

[ThomasPowers]

Or visit the Deutsches Klingen Museum in Solingen. Last time I was there they had a number of machined swages to use to pattern pattern welded steel.

Add Manfred Sachse's Damascus Steel to the book list.

One of the problems is that some designs are called different names by different people.

[mick maxen]

As Thomas points out, people have different names for the same pattern. Maillemaker has a pattern he calls "Stacked". I know this as Random pattern. I think it gets its name from the fact that the only thing that influences the pattern are the hammer blows which as we know are never the same weight or in the same place, hence random.

Below is a variation on the twist pattern. The piece is a 4 bar dagger blade. Each seperate bar has about 30 layers and would be described as an interupted twist pattern. Two of the bars have been twisted clockwise and the other two anti-clockwise. The straight areas are the interupted part of the pattern where no twisting has been done.
The twist shows up better on the outside bars with the stars/chevrons showing. This is because the bar has been ground closer to the middle of the bar. The two centre bars have exactly the same pattern but have not been ground as close to the middle of the bar because they are thicker along the central ridge of the blade.