Hey Folks, I got a little problem. A freind of mine ordered some Damascus steel from a supplier and sent it to me to make a few knives for him. I took a hack saw and cut out the first blank and forged the blade, then I cleaned it up with file work and sandpaper. As I was cleaning it up I notice a small gap in the steel the complete width of the blade, and also that you could see a visible black line connected to the gap that went almost the entire lenght of the knife. The next step was my heat treat and after I pulled the blade out of the oil I noticed that right behind the choil the black line had seperated! I now had a blade with a gap a couple of millimeters wide!:mad:
This is the first time I have messed with Damascus, so I am not sure if this was something I did, or that the steel had one layer in it that did not fuse well together during its forging. Any ideas? Will this happen on any blade that I make from this blank?

sounds like a bad weld in the billet ... I would get ahold of the supplyer and see if he will replace the billet.... Ive never bought any damascus (too cheap) Ive made a few billets of it tho and its always possable to have this happen... its one of the reasons damascus is expencive....

Cold shunts or weld sheer, the point it that it is no longer welded.

You can re weld it, but being a finished blade it will get very thin, and me already be too thin to hold enough heat to be able to weld. It may have been faulty from the manufacturer. You can ask them, BUT since you forged it, any warranty may be void, because most will warrant wasted stock methods, but not the forging process. If you forged too cold for the steel used in the pattern welded billet that can cause separation as well. Many have a danger zone of 600F to about 1550F. Between these temps we do not hammer.

Here are some pics. I will write them and let them know about the split, but since there is a chance it could be all my fault I am not expecting a whole lot. I have enough steel to finish the blades that were ordered, but I think I will go with stock reduction this time.:mad:

Sounds and looks like a bad weld in the billet. It would be difficult to shear an entire good, sound weld along the length of the blade, especially without shearing others in the process. And even harder on a thinner billet with a bit higher layer count like you buy from manufacture. A weld is more likley to come apart when drawing out the billet and striking along the edges of the welds, especially right after a weld is made, but even then, a good weld shouldnt have any issues, unless temp is too cold. But once drawn out where the layers are more numerous and thinner, its pretty hard to shear them, unless you are working way too cold. And even then, I would doubt that a single weld would shear the entire length of the blade. Seems more like a delamination due to a poor weld in the billet. And splitting down the middle like that I would guess it would have been in the last weld made. Hard to say exactly what caused it though, one can only speculate. Just one of those things that is dissapointing after putting in so much work, not to mention money for the stock.

One test you can make is when a billet is complete, no matter who made the billet, is to drill a little hole in one end and hang it from a little wire loop hold it near your ear and tap it lightly with a piece of metal. a solid welded billet will ring. One with flaw will sound dull. If it sounds dull it is time to reweld or return. This does not appy only to billets but any forge welded item. Enjoy

The folks who made the Damascus got back in touch with me, very nice folks. A gentleman named Brad said to go ahead and try another blade off of the billet and if there was still a problem to send it back. He also named a knifemaker nearby who could give me some tips if I had anymore questions. I think my next one I will use a file to remove most of the material instead of forging, if that splits too, I will be more comfortable sending the it back.