nonjic Posted February 4, 2009 Share Posted February 4, 2009 Managed to get a bit of forging in for the first time in a couple of months, its been very frustrating having to spend every hour working next to the forge, and not having time to light the thing! This one is made from bandsaw blade and pallet straping (proper steel is still on my list of things to source, but its very proper money from uderholm, still trying to track down a reasonable source though). Ive got a few hours in this piece, there was a couple of hours billet prep time, and about 12 hours forging and rough grinding it. I forged straight laminate bars for the core, about 25 layers 2 twisted and 2counter twisted, this was welded into a 4 bar strip and the tip profile forged in. The edging steel is 'twisted 'w's, I started with a 15 layer stack, cut into 6, welded and drawn out, then twisted ( so the end of the bar of 'w's is 15x6 ) I think it would have benefited from folding once more to make it 15 x 12) I was trying to get the whole thing welded up in a weekend though so cut a corner here and didnt do it. The 'firestorm' (or expolsion?) pattern is right there in the edge strips, just like Mick Maxen (damascus guru who posts on British Blades) said it would be I scarfed the joints at the tip of the blade (which ive not done before). Through rushing I did not get the bars fitting snugly enough and there is a tiny portion (about 2mm) that hasnt welded. I am pretty sure that I can get it to weld up with one tap of the hammer, the blank is still pleanty thick at the tip end and ive got to heat it up to normalise so ive got nothing to loose by trying to weld it! Blade length is about 10" - I think the pattern will get much more intersting when the blade is ground to finish thickness. Its just rough ground on the linisher to 180 grit at the moment, the grubby bits on the pattern (like the tip) are where the linishing is very uneven. Ive been playing with patternwelding for a bit more than a year now and can feel it starting to come together a bit, Suppose im going to have to have a go a actually finishing another knife soon (only made 2 to date!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeremy k Posted February 4, 2009 Share Posted February 4, 2009 John - That looks very nice - be sure to post a follow up picture/s of it when it's handled. JK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Patrick Posted February 4, 2009 Share Posted February 4, 2009 That is pretty darn cool. nicely done! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
littlewolfsmithy Posted February 4, 2009 Share Posted February 4, 2009 pretty darn nice id say, how do you go about finding a handle that either adds to the beauty, or that does not detract from the beauty of the blade ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brucegodlesky Posted February 4, 2009 Share Posted February 4, 2009 John, thats an eye catcher for sure! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MRobb Posted February 4, 2009 Share Posted February 4, 2009 Beautiful pattern!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
element Posted February 4, 2009 Share Posted February 4, 2009 to cool:o One of the better patterns i ever seen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Sells Posted February 4, 2009 Share Posted February 4, 2009 Very nice john. be sure and post the finished blade. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tech413 Posted February 4, 2009 Share Posted February 4, 2009 Wow! That is a great looking blade. Well done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markb Posted February 4, 2009 Share Posted February 4, 2009 Great pattern, like the edge effect. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted February 4, 2009 Share Posted February 4, 2009 Very nice. Excellent control of the pattern and good contrast. Well done! Frosty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sask Mark Posted February 4, 2009 Share Posted February 4, 2009 (edited) It was seeing knives like this in magazines that led to my interest in blacksmithing. Beautiful! Edited February 4, 2009 by Sask Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbehnke Posted February 4, 2009 Share Posted February 4, 2009 Great control on your twists. Eyecatching! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
civilwarblacksmith Posted February 4, 2009 Share Posted February 4, 2009 That's a really beautiful knife. Neat pattern. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woody Posted February 5, 2009 Share Posted February 5, 2009 I love the pattern Woody Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chad J Posted February 5, 2009 Share Posted February 5, 2009 that is a way cool design Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NOS Posted February 5, 2009 Share Posted February 5, 2009 :o I'm amazed with your work! Incredible pattern that shows you have great execution and control. Keep up the good work, and be sure to post pics of the finished product. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arqueroalpha Posted February 5, 2009 Share Posted February 5, 2009 awesome pattern, well done john Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobDobbs Posted February 6, 2009 Share Posted February 6, 2009 Wow! That is an awesome pattern! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tompdw Posted February 7, 2009 Share Posted February 7, 2009 What are you using to etch? Vinegar? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nonjic Posted February 7, 2009 Author Share Posted February 7, 2009 Thanks for all the positive comments everyone ! I managed to get the tiny defect at the tip of the blank to re-weld so this one does actually have a chance of getting finihsed into a knife! For handle guard etc im not 100% sure, but ive got some nice re-rolled wrought iron that would make an intersting guard after a heavy etch, and I was thinking maybee desert ironwood for the handle. Because theres alot of detail in the blade I think simple would be best for the fittings etc. Someones offered me a decent sized piece of oosic which could be used for the handle but ive never worked it before, so might stick to good old fashioned tree wood! The blade was etched in Ferric Chloride, You can get it off ebay as granuals. Ill post some more pics as this one progresses. As it is all twist patterns the look of the damascus will change drastically as its ground thinner. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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