Mark Emig Posted February 9, 2009 Share Posted February 9, 2009 Hi All, I am in need of some help with patern welding. My son is 15 and a wants to do some pattern welded blades. I want to encourage him in any way I can to work in the shop, so I thought I would ask you all. I am a skilled black-smith, but have never done pattern welded steel. I can forge weld, so that shouldn't be a problem. The problem is, what is a fairly simple (if there is such a thing! ) pattern to start with? I need some advice on material types,stock sizes that you start with and such. I have a fully equipped shop-screw press,power hammer,hydraulic press etc. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thank you, Mark Emig Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bg7m Posted February 9, 2009 Share Posted February 9, 2009 The first piece of damascus I made I used 0-1 and 1018. If I remember right I started with 5 pieces (3-1018 & 2- 01). There are a lot of different combinations of steels you can use, but this is the one I welded first and it will give a medium carbon steel and will have good contrast when etched. I think the key to get good welds is to have your steel clean and flat. I started out trying to make a small billet at first to learn to weld. If your son has success on smaller pieces maybe that will encourage him to stick with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted February 9, 2009 Share Posted February 9, 2009 Size the billet for your forge so the entire piece can be welded up in one go. Remember longer or higher is better than wider if you need more material. I would not suggest a new person go any wider that 1" to start. weld the ends and weld on a handle so jhe doesn't have to mess with tongs. FACESHIELD, full leather apron and gloves so he doesn't get run off by the spray. Low alloy steels so he doesn't have Ni or Cr welding difficulties Have him "trial the movements" he will need to do as it has to be quick but not hit too hard! Have anvil close to forge; tools to hand *before* the piece comes out of the forge! Enjoy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham Fredeen Posted February 9, 2009 Share Posted February 9, 2009 I agree with starting small for the first billet, if that is a success work up to the bigger billets. I think the bigest thing for successful welding is to clean and prep the starting material correctly. Grind off all mill scale/ rust/ pits, etc from all mating surfaces. Keep the grind lines going across the stock and not down the length, this will help the flux to escape by giving it a shorter path to take. Make sure that the stock is flat (or slightly convex, but not concave. If its concave you will risk traping flux inbetween the layers and having inclusions). There are all kinds of great steels to use for pattern welding, but to start keep them simple (you could pick something from the high and mid range of the 10xx series for example). Like Thomas said, probably want to avoid Cr and Ni alloys on your first billet until you get the process down. As far as simple patterns for the blade, there are quite a few that are easy to do. You could do a simple random pattern by taking a hammer and working the billet unevenly to shift the layers randomly (knock some dents in it, maybe use a ball pein for a bit, etc). You can also do a simple twist pattern by squaring up the billet and giving it a twist over its length or in sections. And ladder patterns are easy to do as well. After the billet has been folded to desired layer count and trued up to a good stock size, take and angle grinder with a rounded off grinding wheel and grind grooves across the billet, then forge into a blade. This exposes different layers deeper in the billet and creates a pattern that resembles the rungs of a ladder. You can modify this to do things like a serpentine ladder pattern (cut the grooves only to the middle of the billet and offset the grooves on both sides of the billet, creates a zig zag/ winding pattern down the blade). Rain drop patterns are also easy to do, just take the billet to the drill press and drill some shallow holes all over the billet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dodge Posted February 9, 2009 Share Posted February 9, 2009 The pattern actually is the easy part. Once you get the layers to the quality and quantity desired, the imagination is the only limit. For a first attemp, a low layer count works good. I started with 21 layers of pallet banding and commercial bandsaw blade and cut and welded three times to get 63 layers in theory. This gives a nice wide spacing in the pattern. The siimplest pattern is probably the "ladder". Grooves are simply ground across the billet through perhaps 20% of the thickness on both sides. Then you forge flat, much like fullering. Take care to avoid steep or sharp grooves as it can be difficult to forge flat again. Too easy to get cold shuts. Another simple pattern is the "raindrop." This is achieved by drilling dimples again about 20% or so or no more that the depth of the drill point. I like about a 3/8" bit. Drill either a random or structured pattern and the forge flat again. The layers will stretch and form "ripples" around the dimples like a puddle. Neat appearance IMHO. My first knife I did a combonation of both ladder and raindrop. Then there are the twisted patterns and patterns formed by strategic restacking.... make several and got nutz :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dodge Posted February 9, 2009 Share Posted February 9, 2009 Sorry Tar. I totally missed your post. Smithingman, what Tar said :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Emig Posted February 9, 2009 Author Share Posted February 9, 2009 Thank you all foor the info. I'll let you know what happens next. Mark Emig Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
medieval Posted February 10, 2009 Share Posted February 10, 2009 Anyone thinking of making forged knives or patternwelded knives NEEDS to buy 2 books: "The complete bladesmith" and "The pattern-welded blade". Both by Jim Hrisoulas. Read them and keep them handy. Happy forging. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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