2 nails 3 black spring washers

Chilla wrote in news:4aac84b9$0$1780 $ snipped-for-privacy@news.optusnet.com.au:

shows some excellent work.

looks great, can't wait to see it handled

A friend snapped it up, he wants to put an English oak grip on. I offered Brazillain walnut.

I'll get a snap when it's done though.

Regards Charles

Really really nice. That's something to be proud of. Wish I had your skill. -Jeff

I will remember the "hot fart" part for later use. Is that etch as deep as it looks in the picture? It sure is an interesting effect. I do think that you should remind your public what sizes of materials you are using. I recall an earlier post from you about this process, but not what size of nails and washers you used. Not only do some of us old guys have trouble hearing but---- what was I going to say-----?

Pete Stanaitis

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Chilla wrote:

As always Pete, you can use what ever I say :-)

The etch is quite deep, 90 minutes in a 4:1 FeCl + water, can do a deep etch. 45 minutes would have just brought out the pattern.

Why use dilute acid and not straight? I've found you get a cleaner etch with dilute FeCl, if I use straight it's a tad aggressive and looks rough (that effect can have its uses too).

The nails were 4" long x 3/8", the black spring washers matched the diameter (although square section), but were a little shorter. Just from memory, I'll get precise measurements later. The best pit is that because the nails are round and clean, and the spring washers are square section... they are naturally scarfed :-)

I'm off to scope out some burls today, I've got a lead on English oak burls.

Regards Charles

spaco wrote:

I like it. It looks like it would make a nice knife. I take it you have a nice mix of soft steel and hard steel with a hard edge?

What do you want to do next time? Fold it a few more times to make it look more like Damascus then add in the metal for the edge?

I wonder what would happen if you just used a bundle of wire or cable.

I'm thinking about the kind used in spiral notebooks which has to be some kind of stainless might work well as the softer metal or to hold the nails, etc. together while you weld them and add contrast then add the harder metal for the edge?

Of course I could be 100% wrong. ?8^)

The working edge is spring, that will hold a cutting edge very well.

The main problem with this experiment was that I was limited with the pattern due to lack of material.

X = spring washer O = steel nail

This is how the billet was stacked this time around :-

XO OX

Next time I'm thinking of this :-

XOXO OXOX XOXO OXOX

So I will have four times as much material, and I will have more to play with. The point of this experiment is to simply twist, no folding. With more material I will have less chance of twisting the billet in half.

This is very similar to making a cable damascus (which in essence is a bundle of wires). The main difference is volume and dissimilar alloys.

Stainless is tricky, in that most stainless wont forge weld. You can use this to your advantage if you want to forge weld thin strips of metal.

Regards Charles

So the fun part is to see how far you can get without doing the obvious? I get it. If you can find some really old nails to go with the new nails and maybe some old wire? The different alloys might give you rather more contrast? The nails just went together.

You can get different tones due to the different alloys, throw in a bit of nickel and you have brilliant highlights.

Regards Charles

My grandfather did some smithing. If I last the few more years until I retire I'd think I like a forge. I've done a little grinding but that obviously is not the same thing at all.

Knife grinding is okay, but when you start to heat and beat metal, a different world opens up.

Regards Charles

Add to that some welding and machining, and there's just no end to the amazing things you can do. Heating and beating however I think is by far the most enjoyable.

I bought a stick welder, but am yet to use it. I mainly forge weld.

I mostly use hand tools for the shaping of metal and wood. Although I have a few grinders and belts to save me a little time, and give that mirror polish if the job requires it. I also have a wood lathe that I'm hoping will come in handy.

Regards Charles

Didn't you know the the stick welder was invented solely for the purpose of tacking damascus billets together at the ends for forge welding?

Pete Stanaitis

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Chilla wrote:

plus if you use stainless steel rods...

I bought it to make hardy tools, got a cast iron shot putt that I want to weld onto a stake (bought special rods too). Still looking for a jack hammer bit, that I can use for a forming stake. I want to get back to playing with sheet.

As to tack welding Damascus billets together... don't let Jim H. hear you say that he'll kick your ass :-D

Seriously though, I don't have a power hammer so welding billets together isn't necessary for me as the amount of force I apply to a billet doesn't shift the billet too much ;-)

Regards Charles