Canister Damascus

[Jaegers Forge and Foundry]

So I've always watched people make canister damascus and wondered why people don't make the canister out of high carbon steel rather then mild steel so that you wouldn't have to peel or grind off the can and just have it be part of the knife.

Thanks in advance.

[Dax Hewitt]

Wouldn't the can just cover the Damascus pattern that way? 

[Frosty]

Because the higher the carbon content the lower the melting/burning temp of steel. A mild steel canister can withstand a longer time in a hotter fire than it's contents and if it burns and loses carbon content it doesn't matter it's sacrificial you're going to cut or grind it off anyway. 

A high carbon canister WILL decarb and possibly burn well before the steel inside can reach welding temps. 

Make sense?

Frosty The Lucky.

[Jaegers Forge and Foundry]

Ohhh that makes way more sense now thanks.

[ThomasPowers]

A large part of the canister's job is to isolate the contents from the atmosphere of the forge allowing you to make trickier welds or running a leaner/hotter burn if your forge is on the edge of producing forge welding temps when running rich.  As such it is sacrificial.

Al Pendray mentioned thermocycling wootz pucks a large number of times to get a decarb layer on the outside to make a "self canister" to work the extremely high C stuff in the center with out it cottage cheesing...