Timascus?

[Tamahagane]

I was flipping through the Feb 2004 Issue of BLADE mag the other day and came across a nice article on Neil Blackwood and his knifes. Within this article they had a picture of a particularly fine folder that sported a very colorful damascus-pattern metal handle that was called "Timascus". My question is, what exactly IS Timascus and how is it made? Thanks.

[Jamey Saunders]

Timascus is basically pattern welded titanium. The general idea is the same as that for making regular damascus -- take a couple of different flavors of titanium and weld them together in a way to give a pattern.

As for how it's made, my understanding is that very few people have been able to make the stuff, and they require a lot of special equipment to do it. Really, your only hope is to buy the stuff.

The colors are created by anodizing the Timascus. The different flavors of titanium anodize to different colors at the same voltage.

[Tamahagane]

Wow...Knifemaking has turned into somewhat of an Alchemy..

[Jamey Saunders]

Originally posted by Tamahagane
Wow...Knifemaking has turned into somewhat of an Alchemy..

Wait'll you ask a question about heat treating, martensite, steel composition....

There's a lot of science going on behind the scenes. Some of the guys are more up on the science of steels than others of us, but you, like I still am, will be amazed at the knowledge available here.

Welcome aboard.

[Tamahagane]

I'm very familiar with Martensite and whatnot. I've been an avid fan of Japanese swords since i was a little biddy kid. If you'll notice, my name(Tamahagane) is the name of the raw metal that ancient Japanese swords were made from, which was drawn from ore in the ground in certain places in Japan.

Thanks for the welcome

[plain ol Bill]

Jamey's post was correct. We make Timascus from two or more different alloys of titanium. It is forge welded together and then patterned in quite a few different patterns. It is available only from chuck Bybee at www.alphaknifesupply.com

[Chuck Bybee]

Bill and Tom do all the hard work.

Go to here to see knives and other items with Timascus.

[Tamahagane]

Wow. Those guys are ground-breaking. Those are some truly exquisite designs they are producing with that stuff. I'd love to see some of the equipment they make it with.