Damascus Blade

Blades. Knife-making, Flintknapping, sharpening broadheads, etc. A showcase for the talents of Cutlery and Artillery Artisans, and a place to sell and source wares, as well as materials, vendors etc.

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woodie
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Damascus Blade

#1 Post by woodie » Fri May 11, 2018 6:19 pm

Hi all as you may know I have been dabbling in the dark art of knife making.
I had a go at Damascus last weekend, as the wife/boss was working/away from home and did not give me any jobs to do.
I grabbed some scrap from work in the lines of packing strap and what is called wear bands, spring steel I think. Stacked 1 spring 3 packing ect to 50 layers 60mm long. Heated hit repeat. Drilled some holes 3mm deep on both sides and finished forging. I took it to work to surface grind so I can now file in the bevels.
It will be just under 6" long and about 30mm deep.
I think it might just work.
SG raindrop1.1.jpg
SG raindrop1.1.jpg (87.33 KiB) Viewed 10839 times
may your arrows fly straight and true and your limbs return.

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jindydiver
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Re: Damascus Blade

#2 Post by jindydiver » Sat May 12, 2018 9:13 am

Great raindrop pattern. If you are going to put in that much work though maybe you should get some steels you know are going to perform, make the effort about knowing your knife is durable at the end. It would be a shame to spend a hard day hammering to find your blade wont hold an edge.
Looking forward to seeing it finished.
Mick


Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power.

Abraham Lincoln

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Stickbow Hunter
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Re: Damascus Blade

#3 Post by Stickbow Hunter » Sat May 12, 2018 12:25 pm

Looking good mate; I hope it turns out well for you.

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woodie
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Re: Damascus Blade

#4 Post by woodie » Sat May 12, 2018 1:32 pm

True Mick, this is a learning curve for me. I have not been successful in this type of Damascus before so I did not want to waist money on good steel. But having said that I have made scrapers and blades from both the steels I used and I did a test to see how hard this would go. It skates a file.
Even if it does not harden I will learn from it.
Ron
may your arrows fly straight and true and your limbs return.

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rodlonq
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Re: Damascus Blade

#5 Post by rodlonq » Mon May 14, 2018 9:13 am

Very nice Woodie, I like your method of creating the raindrops in the pattern.

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woodie
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Re: Damascus Blade

#6 Post by woodie » Wed May 30, 2018 5:35 pm

Here is where I'm up to. I have been interrupted with work so it is taking a bit of time.
I have started to file in the bevels and I am about half way so a quick etch.
A bit hard to see but there looks to be a nice pattern.
Raindrop progress 1.jpg
Raindrop progress 1.jpg (11.71 KiB) Viewed 10772 times
may your arrows fly straight and true and your limbs return.

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Re: Damascus Blade

#7 Post by Stickbow Hunter » Wed May 30, 2018 6:02 pm

Coming along well mate.

Jeff

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woodie
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Re: Damascus Blade

#8 Post by woodie » Sat Jun 02, 2018 5:22 pm

I read the other night that kerosene as flux is to the forge I went.
Using the same material as the blade as I get it for free.
11 layers stacked, tack welds, soaked in kero while the forge heated up.
To my surprise it worked. The stack was 28mm wide before forge welding.
After the weld I turned it and hammered it to square it off and gave it 2 turns and it stayed together.
kero flux test1.jpg
kero flux test1.jpg (25.3 KiB) Viewed 10748 times
It has been flatten out. I then quenched in water, not the best thing to do but it hardened it to its hardest so I can do a break test that showed small grain structure. I put it back into the forge to anneal.
kero flux test end1.jpg
kero flux test end1.jpg (22.87 KiB) Viewed 10748 times
This is the end grain structure.
kerotest side1.jpg
kerotest side1.jpg (36.47 KiB) Viewed 10748 times
The pattern, hopefully.
At the end of the day this was a test to see if kerosene works as a flux, I think so.
Or I was lucky.
may your arrows fly straight and true and your limbs return.

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woodie
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Re: Damascus Blade

#9 Post by woodie » Sun Jun 03, 2018 4:43 pm

This is the blade out of the forge this afternoon from the bigger part of the billet.
kero flux test blade.jpg
kero flux test blade.jpg (23.58 KiB) Viewed 10732 times
I'm not sure how much of the twist pattern will be in the but hay it is keeping me out of the pub.
may your arrows fly straight and true and your limbs return.

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Re: Damascus Blade

#10 Post by Stickbow Hunter » Sun Jun 03, 2018 9:14 pm

Enjoy the learning process mate. It is interesting stuff.

Jeff

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perry
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Re: Damascus Blade

#11 Post by perry » Mon Jun 04, 2018 1:42 pm

really really interesting, thanks for posting this woodie

regards Jacko
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woodie
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Re: Damascus Blade

#12 Post by woodie » Mon Jun 04, 2018 2:51 pm

No worries pass on the info so we all learn.
Just don't use it when the steel is hot for obvious reasons.
may your arrows fly straight and true and your limbs return.

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woodie
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Re: Damascus Blade

#13 Post by woodie » Wed Jun 06, 2018 9:34 pm

Here is the blade after heat treatment and a bit of a polish and etch.
kero flux test ethed left1.jpg
kero flux test ethed left1.jpg (22.49 KiB) Viewed 10682 times
Stay tuned, more to come.
may your arrows fly straight and true and your limbs return.

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Re: Damascus Blade

#14 Post by Stickbow Hunter » Thu Jun 07, 2018 9:05 am

Nice!!!

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woodie
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Re: Damascus Blade

#15 Post by woodie » Thu Oct 11, 2018 8:04 pm

Hi all been a little while. How is everyone?
I had a go at making a ladder pattern blade but I failed so I cut and restacked.
There was 28 layers of spring steel pallet strapping and bandsaw blade. I cut that into 6 and rewelded, now I have to think what to make.
stack 2.jpg
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may your arrows fly straight and true and your limbs return.

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woodie
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Re: Damascus Blade

#16 Post by woodie » Fri Nov 09, 2018 11:51 pm

Here is the blade that came from the block.
The attachment quiver knife blade etch.jpg is no longer available
I still have to finish the grind and glue together.
This is what I used, wear band, pallet strapping and bandsaw blade.
quiver knife blade etch.jpg
quiver knife blade etch.jpg (73.71 KiB) Viewed 9993 times
may your arrows fly straight and true and your limbs return.

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Re: Damascus Blade

#17 Post by Stickbow Hunter » Sat Nov 10, 2018 10:54 am

Love the look of the blade mate. It should look good once finished.

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woodie
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Re: Damascus Blade

#18 Post by woodie » Sat Nov 10, 2018 11:45 am

Thank you Jeff.
I finished it off this morning. Well just have to go and sharpen it
Quiver knife.jpg
Quiver knife.jpg (107.82 KiB) Viewed 9980 times
Quiver knife back.jpg
Quiver knife back.jpg (122.47 KiB) Viewed 9980 times
Quiver knife left.jpg
Quiver knife left.jpg (93.89 KiB) Viewed 9980 times
Quiver knife right.jpg
Quiver knife right.jpg (104.03 KiB) Viewed 9980 times
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Re: Damascus Blade

#19 Post by Stickbow Hunter » Sat Nov 10, 2018 12:08 pm

That's a handy little knife.

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Outbackdad
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Re: Damascus Blade

#20 Post by Outbackdad » Sat Nov 10, 2018 5:10 pm

Looks great.

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