Ive made several damascus blades and just winging it as I go along. I've been successful so far, until my last blade had some welds that didn't take. I use 1075 and 15n20 cut to size welded corners and soaked in kerosene. I don't use borax because I use a gas forge and don't want to degrade the bricks with the borax. All the info I have in my brain is from YouTube and a brief conversation with Jim Poore. So I'm looking for a book and I've checked out the book review section but didn't see anything within the first 4 pages. Is there a book that covers canister, pattern welding, Damascus techniques? The pic is the last knife I made and had to shorten because of the bad weld.  Any info is greatly appreciated  

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I can't open the download file. I would recommend the The Pattern-Welded Blade: Artistry in Iron by Jim Hrisoulas a member here (JPH). Another book worth having is by Steve Sells (member here) although I have not had a chance to read it, if it's as good as his first book it belongs on the book shelf. Knifemaking 2.0 Advanced Studies.

 

10 hours ago, Irondragon ForgeClay Works said:

I would recommend the The Pattern-Welded Blade: Artistry in Iron by Jim Hrisoulas a member here (JPH).

As it turns out I recognized the name on the book. I went into my office and was scanning my bookshelf and low and behold I had it the whole time. I got this this book when I first started making knives before I started forging. Thanks for the recommendation.

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I am grateful for the recommendation of my book, but I think the fist book is a better primer for pattern welded blades, the second book is as it states, more advanced studies and assumes a reasonable base of knowledge to work from

Steve, how come we have a Mokume Gane section but no Damascus section?

 

sections traditionally have been created when there is enough material to separate from the existing body, also where would it go? decorations are made of different material than blades.

 I have the time to pull them out of you think there is a need, but since they are already all over the place it will take a while to get the posts moved to the new section

I was pming with Glenn and he was saying pretty much the same thing you are. He suggested it would probably have to me the main topic then several subcategories. I just think it would be awesome to have a category for it and be able to easily access that info. Also the subcategories for hammers, hair pins, knives etc would also be a huge help. 

Not forgetting that pattern welding is NOT just for knives!  

I think that a sub section of some sorts that could cover the how to's and that's how's of how various patterns are made in  PW steel assuming there are enough posts to warrant a whole subsection, maybe a sticky post in General smithing is good enough

You mean like in the knife making 200 classes? Why bother posting them again when you didnt read those where they are, and they have been there for a few years

Damascus Steel: Theory and Practice, by Gunther Lobach. It's a killer book, and comes with a super cool poster.

On 1/6/2021 at 7:45 PM, Bob Brandl said:

Damascus Steel: Theory and Practice, by Gunther Lobach.

I'll second this recommendation. 

If you use you favorite web search engine, (the one used by the IFI OS stinks) and list Iforge with your search terms you can google IFI easily. It's about as difficult as looking up a subject in a table of contents. Pattern welding is an ongoing topic all over the forum and trying to cram all the other discussions where it comes up would make for a really too large to go through section. 

Frosty The Lucky.