Damascus!!

[taz575]

Took a 16 layer chunk from my first forge welded billet. It was 1.3" tall, 1.7" wide and around 1.25" long. Forged this out by hand!

[mauichef]

I really Like that Tim! Beautiful handle too. Well done.

[taz575]

Spent the day at Dragons Breath Forge today and got this billet done!! Drew out the original bar that was 16 layers and cut it into 6 pieces:

stacked, re welded:

and drew out this bar!

Its 96 layers, 33" long, 1.8" wide and .31" thick. This way I can draw out a profile, pattern it if I want (or leave it as random pattern) and then forge the bevels. Not sure what knives are coming out of this bar yet!

[Kekoa]

Oooooo, that is exciting... It'll be fun to see what you decide to do with it.

[taz575]

I took the little cut off piece from the end of the billet after I did the 1st draw out at 16 layers and etched it. Layers look nice!! The deep scratches are from using a very coarse file to flatten it quickly so I could etch it.

The billet now has 6 times the layers I gotta get a cut off from that one and etch it, maybe this evening!!

[taz575]

[Kekoa]

Any thoughts on what you'll do with it yet??

[taz575]

I think a few edc/hunters, not sure what else yet

[taz575]

Made a raindrop blade!

[taz575]

Spent some time forging!

3.25" reverse tanto (raindrop pattern) and a clip point hunter (random pattern) in my 96 layer damascus.

I am using a new etchant. The raindrop blade was taken to a 2000 grit finish and then etched. It stayed shiny and smooth feeling after the etching! Going to try the etchant on a kitchen knife to see if I can get nice contrast and not as sticky in foods!

Next up is a couple rehandles when I have time off next. This week is commencement at work so I am working 64 hours between today and Sunday, including 2, 3rd shift/1st shift doubles.

[Kekoa]

Nice! That has great contrast. I really like the rain drop pattern.

[taz575]

Got these 2 finished up finally!

96 layer raindrop, patterning is much tighter because I forged it down after dimpling the steel, so the layers got compressed:

96 layer random, more bold patterning!

Now I can get on with some pending rehandles for kitchen knives and hopefully working on some kitchen knives. Got some W2, Blue #2 here to play with and some hardened Magnacut blanks to grind! 43 knife batch going out for heat treat next week, so I hope to get the rehandles done before I get those back!

[taz575]

Did up 2 billets this past week! 125CR1 (Similar to 26C3 aka Spicy White) and 15N20, 24 layers started off in each billet, drew out, cut into 6 pieces, re stacked and re drew out!

These are around 24" long useable, 144 layers, 3/8" thick and around 1.25" wide, so I can pattern the piece, draw out and forge to shape. Going to be fun playing with these!

The other billet I got 4 more blades out of in raindrop. Most of these will be reverse tanto like the other one I did in raindrop, around 3-4" long, may do one as a drop point:

Plus I have a piece around .28" thick, 1.75" wide and 8" long to play with, so it looks like I got 7 or 8 knives out of my first billet!

[taz575]

These are the 2 pieces after drilling to dimple them for the raindrop pattern before forging them back down, with the 8" wide piece. I had hammered these 2 sections narrower to build up the thickness and stretch them out a bit longer before patterning.

[taz575]

Made these 2 from some of the Raindrop from the first billet! Reverse tanto blades, AmeraGrip handles (G10 and rubber). HRC is 60 for these. I still need to grind the thumb ramp into the back of the green handle near the guard, then epoxy the blades into the handles, do sheaths, sharpen and etch my logo. Hoping to finish them off on Monday!

I want to do a couple chef knives and some slicers with my other 2 billets! Thinking ladder pattern for those!

[Kekoa]

Those are cool, the blades look like a Higonokami.

[taz575]

Yup! The "Reverse Tanto" blade shape is very popular now. I carry a smaller one when I am not at work and it does really well for EDC type tasks. Nice fine point, easy to sharpen and looks good! I like drop points too, but the reverse tanto shape is becoming my favorite.

[taz575]

Fully done!

4" Low Layer Puddle damascus, ironwood handle, black G10/Copper layered guard, red spacer/liners. This one is available!

Mom wanted a green handle, so she got this one, 3.75" blade length, DayGlo Green Ameragrip (Dayglo is yellow, but it darkens to green when the black is behind it). It actually glows in UV/Black light, too! Black micarta guard.

Wife got this one! 3.75" blade, White/Pink/Red G10 Burl guard with white spacers, Pink Ameragrip handles and Bubble Gum (Or Pepto Bismol!) kydex sheath.