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I Forge Iron

Thin damascus project, pharmacy spatula


Jclonts82

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  • 4 weeks later...

Little update. After putting the kid to bed last night, 9:00 pm I decided to get closer to finishing the other two projects. Discovered there is not enough steel for both twisted and twisted + ladder/pond & eye. At the base of this one (twisted) is where I started the pond and eye, and split the billet in 2, but I think a much higher layer count would be necessary to really have an effect in the pattern.

                 *note to self: put idea in idea bin for later experiments*

Funny enough, I thought one end of the billet was more layered than it was. I did the pond and eye on one side, and ladder on the other, hammered it all flat, shaped it, polished it up to 600 grit... put in the acid, and only had about 1" with pattern on it. LOL the rest was the square stock Handle I had welded to it... I made a mark where the weld was, but I guess in all the fray I lost that mark and just estimated... incorrectly. Oh well, good practice nonetheless. Putting the handle on it tonight if I find the motivation.

 

QUESTION: what ways are there to keep the blacks... well, black? 

This pic is with a fresh coat of 3-1 oil, makes it look lacquered and really contrasts the pattern. The blacks are really deep. Is there a way to help that stay that way. I find the blacks fade to grey after a while, when the oil is gone. 

 

 

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On 7/26/2017 at 10:05 AM, ThomasPowers said:

I would try blue and see if it works.  This is the sort of thing you may want to do a test piece and then do your "good pieces"

I heated this one with a torch past blue, until a kind of grey color. Did this 3-4 times. NICE flexibility. I put about a 30-40 degree bend pushing thumbs in the middle and it came back perfectly straight.

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On ‎8‎/‎18‎/‎2017 at 10:55 AM, Jclonts82 said:

QUESTION: what ways are there to keep the blacks... well, black? 

After etching in the acid, neutralize in boiling baking soda, then wait until the next day to clean/polish it.

 

as always

peace and love

billyO

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On ‎8‎/‎21‎/‎2017 at 7:46 PM, billyO said:

After etching in the acid, neutralize in boiling baking soda, then wait until the next day to clean/polish it.

I will try this next time... Im usually just too impatient!

Would you add any oil before cleaning/polishing to prevent rusting in that day?

Finished it BTW

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8 hours ago, Jclonts82 said:

Would you add any oil before cleaning/polishing to prevent rusting in that day?

No need, the oxides from the acid etch will prevent rusting.  Anyway you'd get rid of that when you sanded the oxides off the 15N20 to get the pattern.

 

as always

peace and love

billyO

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  • 9 months later...
  • 1 year later...

Update: 2019, made another one, specialized for opening seals on powdered antibiotics.. basically a hook and a one sided edge. 

Made for a pharm school classmate that was a pretty good friend in school. 

Less drastic pattern, more organic. Made from scrap/end cut off from larger billet. I’m a fan of using as much of me steel as I can. 

Handle is olive wood. 

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