Rustic patterning

[JAKA]

I've heard that to obtain the forged, antiqued, blacksmithed, look on the upper half of blades it's usful to form the pattern from dies that are handmade. Has anyone had any experience with this. I would like to try it but have no idea how the dies are made that would give this look.

JAKA:rolleyes:

[ThomasPowers]

I don't know *anyone* who uses dies to do this for knives. Some do use a granite cobble stone or a heavily pitted anvil top to texture metal.

[JAKA]

Thanks. I had emailed one knifemaker who did use dies but cannot find my email. (I probably deleted it already).

Being a Kansas native, what do you mean by granite cobblestone?

JAKA

[ThomasPowers]

A granite cobblestone is a cobblestone made from granite. Being an Arkansas native I have seen them in MO and OK and AR as well as in KC---most likely imported from the NE of the USA.

It's a honking big chunk of stone once used to make streets from; now mainly used for decoration. Instead of polished sides like a tombstone it's left rough and it's these rough sides that work as a stone anvil that leaves a lot of texture.

You might ask a neo-tribal forum as blades left rough from the hammer is a neo-tribal meme.

[me miller]

Ibelieve Daniel Winkler did some that looked almost like a hasp texture on some of his damascus blades. Terry Primo did some that looked like they had been peened to give a textured look.

[Sam Salvati]

This kind of patterning?

[johnny99]

Jaka, the simplest way to make a tool to do what you want is to find a scrap hammer and cover the face with weld splatter. Put the hammer face up in a vise then strike an arc on it with either mig, or stick. Pull the electrode way back immediatly maybe 3/4 to 1 inch. So that it's throwing little globs of metal in a large area, instead of forming a puddle. Then quickly cover the entire face of the hammer. But not to thick, It's much easier to add more than to clean the whole mess off and start again. Now use an angle grinder to knock all the globs down to about 3/64" proud of the hammer face.
Now, when forging, just take a pass or two on each side of the blade with your texturing hammer until you get the pattern density you like. Personally however I don't feel that textureing a blade is a good idea. Because you are creating stress risers for no good reason, and if it's going to be used for anykind of food prep, those little pits are a great place for decaying food to get stuck and are almost impossible to clean. They also invariably get to rusting down in the pits. But I understand that a lot of people like the look regardless.

[bobbykeller]

daniel winkler uses a hammer that he welded a chunk of rasp to . he hits the blade where he wants the look and thats it. the neotrible look is from the hammer itself. after forging you planish the whole blade then clean up the area you want clean and thats it.

[Glenn]

Bobby, huge images should be placed in the IForgeIron gallery. The gallery keeps the full size but also presents a reduced size that is acceptable for the forum. Just copy the URL from the gallery and place it into the "attach images" on the forum.

[bobbykeller]

ok thanks glenn, im still learning this thing . bobby

[JAKA]

To all who responded to my query on patterning. These knives will be used for show only and as usual in the blacksmithing trades, you've all given me some good tips and ideas. It's much appreciated. Thanks.

[plain ol Bill]

I have used dies that are covered w/ weld splatter to foge in that "rustic" look before and they worked very well.

[leafshadow]

when i first started blacksmithing, (and that was only some months ago) i use to make aluminum pieces, using bricks as my anvil. the rough bricks gave a interesting texture to my knives, and you might want to experiment with it. you'd smash several bricks before your work is done though, lol