I have been in discussion with a client regarding what was first a silver sword, he now knows he needs a steel blade and wants silver inlay. Has anyone inlayed a pattern welded blade ?. I am trying to just go for silver hilt and pommel with silver wire wrapped over leather, but I don't know all that much of what he's thinking yet, i'm just researching my options. If he opts for a carbon blade, the inlay would be more dramatic if the blade was left dark ....(tannic acid, the viking way ), However tempering and hardening may prove to be a challenge ,
Any thoughts ?

Hi Smithy,

We have a plate from Morroco done in much the same idea ! a pattern wes punched into the steel and then using the chisel the edges were 'undercut' to form a key then the wire laid in and hammered flat the silver is soft and very malable and does not require much working it inlay but it work-hardens so it stays in place.
Maybe you could put the patern in with the cndecut prior to hardening and tempering and inlay after?
Never tried it this way myself but it should work!
Ian

smithy1,

here are a few citations for you that might be interesting

the first two describe the undercutting that Ian is talking about

http://www.seekyee.c...laytutorial.htm
http://www.hurstwic...._hilt_inlay.htm

The last one is a rather long discussion on medieval axes by a smith out on the west coast. Check the last page as there is a different way to to do inlay.(I believe)I take that back, the author calls it an overlay
I went looking for better description but found nothing concrete.

http://forums.dfoggk...9330ec08099d2ce

Good luck and let us know what you end up doing.

Brian Pierson

edited to add info about last site.

nice links i especially like the first one as it has real good pictures!

thanks brian good info,...kind of along the lines I was thinking, the second link explains the "w" principle which keeps the wire in.
I'm wondering about heat treating.....it had to be soft to cut the grooves in, didn't it ? did he just harden the edge ?
thanks again for the links

The method mentioned is khuftgari, also called koftgari. There are probably several other alternative spellings. Basically you score the steel surface to raise a bunch of extremely fine burrs, press your silver into that (I think you can also hammer it in with a small hammer and punch), then burnish the surface.

Here's a demo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIBpSBVDca4

Damascening. Some good links in the wiki article.

Smithy1,

It would depend on the actually metal that the object was made from. Historically, the body would be made from wrought iron and the edge would be made from steel that could be hardened. The axes on that website are made from low carbon steel(1018) and the edge from 1075. The body is softer than the chisels used to lay down the pattern so the chisel will cut the pattern. That is the only example I can definitely talk to. Below is a picture of an axe that had a design applied like the potter website shows. This is an artifact from the viking age.

Brian Pierson

The original way was to do the undercut keyway and hammer the wire into that, but I've seen some smiths, for "inlaying" brass actually cut a straight groove and then heat up the piece and actually braze the piece into it. Then by taking a file or sander working back to the original surface which leaves the brass exposed in the groove only. Saves a lot of time in undercutting. You could silver solder using the same technique.

I use the chisel and undercut method for inlaying gold and silver into steel. i hope you know that this is very labor intensive and requires some degree of training to learn how. The lady that taught me charge $100 an inch for gold wire inlay using this method and that was 9 years ago. Keep in mind that if you choose this method and inlay into high carbon steel you need to know the meltin points of silver and the temperature you need to heat treat that particular steel.

Well if ou want to do so much work you could make a sword with as much silver as the axe pictured here


I have looked into the process once or twice noting the Prune people viking book, and the chapter on demascene Work Kuftgari, a form of Demascene" in Metal Techniques for craftmen I had thought of transcribing what it said then relized it was a few pages and the basic points of the process has been outlined here or on the websites from here.

I agree with Rich Hale on watching what your getting yourself into. It seems like a very labor intensive project, and a slip on an engraver can really put you back on a polished and cleaned peice. Not to mention silver staying around $35 an oz with it liking to go near $40 every so often. I would wonder if it would be worth the investment to have the first peice you do be a custome peice for a customer. But I am young and easly scared.

I should have clarIfied: koftgari in a method of overlay, not inlay. It's more of an Asian and Middle Eastern technique. I don't think the Norse used it. I could be wrong.

Larry, make up a chisel, grab some solder and get to practicing, it's not all that hard. V groove, then groove the sides of the V shaped valley making a lip, then lay the wire in and peen it down and file flush.