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Ed Caffrey's Workshop Talk to Ed Caffrey ... The Montana Bladesmith! Tips, tricks and more from an ABS Mastersmith.

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  #1  
Old 01-30-2001, 10:44 PM
dogman
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Powdered Steels for Forging


Hi, Ed.
Have you been playing with the powdered steels in your Damascus, yet? It seems like a nice alternative to the few guys that have EDM access.

A local maker, Cliff Parker, brought some patterns he had made ovet to Reese's shop. One was a dog's face and he also had a butterfly and flowers. They were all awesome

Do you think that will be a hot new trend in Damascus?
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  #2  
Old 01-30-2001, 11:20 PM
Ed Caffrey
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Powdered steel


You bet! It's already getting a lot of attention. It's gona take damascus to new heights. I've been using it for the last year or so. It allows nearly any pic or scene to be put into the damascus. It's spendy too. 15N20 powder is around $20 a pound, 1084 around $12, and 1018 about $8.50. It doesn't take much powder to equal that 1 pound either.
The forging on it is not as labor intensive as other type of damascus, but the set up takes loads more time. When putting the billet together, you really have to be able to visualize the whole process, and how the reduction will effect the finished product.
Basically it's done as an encapsulated weld........a square piece of mild steel tube, the pattern made to fit the depth of the tube, and then the fill being the powder. The hardest part for me was letting a billet sit in the forge for the 45 min-1 hour that it takes before welding it. A press is the only way to do that stuff, otherwise the pattern gets so distorted that you've wasted your time. (I already made that mistake!) I think your gona see more and more of it, but as with everything in custom knives, there will be something that comes along to overshadow it. Evolution is the key to what we do!
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  #3  
Old 01-31-2001, 12:38 AM
dogman
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Re: Powdered steel


One can only imagine where this will go. I can see mosaic patterns that are truly quilt-like in their design.

I would love to see a true tiger stripe or leopard pattern in steel. Maybe even a gradient of colors that becomes more robust and varied as you grind into the billet.

One of these days I am going to have to become a hammer-acolyte
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  #4  
Old 02-01-2001, 01:03 AM
moldy Jim
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Re: Powdered steel


I'd love to try to do some fiddling with the powered metal damascas mosaic stuff. Where do you get the powder? Will Crucible sell the powder directly?
Thanks,
Moldy
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  #5  
Old 02-01-2001, 11:38 AM
Jason G Howell
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I'd like to add to Ed's post about the powdered... I just did my first powdered billet, NS strips bent, mild steel tube, powdered 1084. I had my tubing a few months ago, but had gotten thin walled. In Ron's article in KI this month, I couldn't figure why he used such thick tubing. Now I know. The thin walled I used was too thin, allowing the pattern to be moved around too much, squashed easily under the press. It was after the 6th heat or so before the tube started acting like a stout billet of damascus. Even with a press, thin walled was not the way to go. Next billet will be thick. My mind is racing with this (relatively newfound for me) stuff right now. I have Arkansas to finish for and have to resist the urge to play with it some more. I'm having a get together with a couple buddies of mine at my place mid Febraury to play with it some more. We're still on, right Chester and Richard? Got an email coming your way dudes.

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  #6  
Old 02-01-2001, 11:48 AM
Jason G Howell
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Decided to show what the makup and welding of the billet looked like. Have not shot the results yet, I'll add if anyone's interested.







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  #7  
Old 02-01-2001, 01:01 PM
Don Cowles
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Glad you are with us and willing to share, Jason. Wish we had a dozen more like you!
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  #8  
Old 02-01-2001, 03:03 PM
Jason G Howell
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Thanks Don. I wish everyone felt the same... I've been making almost 3 years. Not near as long as most of the guys around here. I KNOW I could not be where I am today without makers willing to share. Were it not for Johnny Stout, Harvey Dean, Hammer-in's in general, forums like this, I'd have to spend 10-20 years learning by trial and error. It can only drive our craft.

If I can contribute and someone can get something out of it, I feel honored to share.

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  #9  
Old 02-02-2001, 09:53 PM
Tnbowie
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Jason I would like to see the results
i have been playing with this also and as the rest I like seeing what it can do
I have a book of patterns that i will build Ron (Bowie )
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  #10  
Old 02-07-2001, 07:45 PM
Geno
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I want to play with this powdered stuff too. I'm not quite there yet, but I've got lots of ideas floating around up there in my head.
(Course Pat says there's lots of room for things to float.)
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