Need advise

[Josh O Mason]

I guess you could take that blade and try to make it into a big gnarly folder *shrug*

[titaniumdoctor]

What's directly next to the weld, 1 inch or 1 foot. Sounds like mr. oliver needs a course in metalurgy. I could represent myself in court, or I can hire a lawyer. I could weld the steel myself, or hire a welder. I'm not here to argue with anyone, I'm just going on my experiances, and what I have learned from living..... or living and learning. maybe I got lucky once or twice. I can only say what I know.... or what I think I know.

Good luck to all, Jeremy

[Andrew Garrett]

Alex,

Flip open your TKS, or Jantz catalog. You will see dozens of damascus kit blades with welded-on tangs. The welds are exacly where your knife broke! These are heat treated and perfectly good blades!

Without arguing the strength of welds versus the strength of surrounding steel, let me just say that roll cages, ship hulls, space craft, and a million other objects which carry far more critical joints than that of any knife, rely on welds to perform very important functions!

In fact, every damascus knife on the planet relys on WELDS to keep the blade together (i.e., pattern welded).

I understand that this is your first blade? You spend weeks if not months perfecting those extrordinary grinds?

Weld it! Re heat treat it! Finish that awesome knife and I will eagerly buy it from you for a fair price (what I would charge for it) without the slightest concern about a welded tang. DO NOT scrap it!

Drive on man!!

[Andries Olivier]

Originally Posted by titaniumdoctor

I'm not here to argue with anyone, I'm just going on my experiances

Same here, I guess we all go through a lot of different experiences and learn as we go.(hopefully) And we are all entitled to our own opinions.

If it will make you feel better, I also weld a section of steel onto hidden tang damascus blades. Only I prefer doing so more than halfway through the handle because I sincerely believe that there will be far less stress on it during use.

So if you want to weld that close to the ricasso/guard, go ahead. After all it is your knife.

[cliff fendley]

I would'nt be afraid of the blade breaking because of welding if done properly, alot of hidden tang knives have bolts welded on and I think thats what he's thinking about doing. My only concern would be if the break is far enough from the blade itself so it doesnt affect its HT.

[hammerdownnow]

A proper weld will be as strong or stronger than the steel around it. Welding is different than soldering or brazing. Those two are joining by cohesion, welding takes two pieces and melts them together making them into one piece. The emphasis on "proper weld" should be noted. A weld will only fail if it is not done right. A good weld will make your two halfs whole again and every bit as good as it ever was. How do I know this? Airco Tech. Inst. Gave me a piece of paper saying I had grasped the concept....lol

[Delbert Ealy]

It was a beautiful knife, but I'd start over. Welding can result in serious grain growth in the steel which will weaken the area surronding the joint. This too can be solved, but it would take more work than just making a new blade. To address the initial problem. The main causes of warping are uneven heating during the heat treat process, uneven grinding, and overheating the blade during grinding. There are others, but this nails most of them.

[horseman1]

Thanks for the answers to my question. I understand there are different opinions on the matter. YWMV (Your Welding May Vary).

Kurt

[hammerdownnow]

A good round of normalizing will take care of any stresses that will definatly build up. Have you ever seen or heard of a test knife that broke across the handle? Nether have I. I would bet if you just set the pieces together and put micarta handles with a brass liners on it you could not chop enough to make the knife fail.