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I Forge Iron

Third damascus


bryson489

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Thankyou. All i can say is do it! It'll kick xxxx xxxx  but it's so worth it getting that billet together. I wish i had some presses or power hammers so i could do larger billets. But until then i can usually get a knife and a bottle opener out of one billet. 

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Nice knife Bryson! Nice leather work too. I'm going to have to learn how to do that soon.

I second Bryson's encouragement Cavpilot. I have a forge press, but for the few pattern welded billets I've done, I always start out with the hammer on the anvil to get the layers to stick. Once they're all welded together well, you're good to go however you proceed from there.

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Thanks guys. I usually try to keep the sheaths simple, unless requested otherwise. He showed a pic of what he wanted for a sheath and it was a pretty plain design with the fringe. It was my first time doing the fringe so i decided to add the skull to try dressing it up. Its definitely a fun process. As long as you have patience. That's why i stick to small peicess haha

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  • 5 months later...

I just got a shipment of 1084 and 15N20 from Aldo, and some Ferric Chloride.  Let the Damascus-making begin!

I think I may first try a billet out of some other scrap steel (an old saw blade and maybe lawnmower blade) just to practice the technique and identify problems before I do it with the "good stuff". 

I've also been thinking about attempting a cable damascus. Does anybody on here do that by hand? I saw a nice technique of hammering it into a V-swage to keep it compressed and prevent pancaking in the early stages. 

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6 hours ago, Cavpilot2k said:

I've also been thinking about attempting a cable damascus. Does anybody on here do that by hand? 

The swages do help, but not necessary.  At the beginning. go very slowly and strike softly until the steel feels like it's getting compressed into a solid mass and keep twisting the stock like you are trying to tighten the twist as you forge.

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13 hours ago, billyO said:

The swages do help, but not necessary.  At the beginning. go very slowly and strike softly until the steel feels like it's getting compressed into a solid mass and keep twisting the stock like you are trying to tighten the twist as you forge.

Does it help at all to soak the cable (assuming it is used) in solvent of some kind to get grease/oil/junk out of the nooks and crannies, since you can't just grind/sand it clean like normal damascus layers?

Or does all that stuff just burn off?

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If it's just oil, grease, etc. it'll flux the cable, leave it. However if it's been dragged through: mud, sand, etc. It'll probably be okay, do a test piece and see. 

What you REALLY have to watch for is a plastic stress strand, those can burn off in an ugly toxic manner. And some steel stress strands are galvanized. Stress strands are easily visible in the ends of cut cable so eyeball it.

Frosty The Lucky.

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I've forged welded some larger greasy cable. The grease burns out and is a mess but it welded up fine. Get it as clean as you can and go from there. I'd recommend a respirator until the nasties are gone. And keep it hot, keep it clean and fluxed. And keep twisting it tight until its solid. 

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I'll agree with both of the above, but I've also had a failure, so I try to clean the steel as much as possible first.  Even if it doesn't matter, I feel the less nasties I burn up in the forge, the time spent doing this isn't wasted.

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