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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 04-20-2013, 09:02 PM
Jeremy Jeremy is offline
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First solo attempt at damascus

I've made 2 San Mai blades and some cable damascus at a friend's shop (who has 2 power hammers and a press). I've had some 1084 and 15N20 around for a while and have really wanted to give it a try with my tooling-hammer and anvil. A little while back, the better half said I could wall off a portion of the garage for my "shop" and this is the first time I got the forge up this hot in its new home. You'll see some "problems" that developed which I'll be remedying soon.

I put together two, what I figured would be managable sized, stacks. Please ignore the sorry welds from my poor skills and el cheapo HF welder. I know, the thinner 15N20 should stay on the inside, but for a few reasons, I had a double layer on the outside of one of the stacks. One layer on one side started bowing out shortly after seeing the inside of the forge, but it seemed to work out in the end.



Some 20 mule team getting added. By the way, I have a whole new respect for you all who post WIPs and pics of your stuff with really hot steel in hand.



Making sure to tap and not beat the snot out of it, I worked to the end with flux sparking out in all directions. They both had that solid feel on the anvil after a few cycles of hammering, wire brushing, fluxing, and over again. I also tried to make sure I left them in the forge long enough for the heat to get all the way to the middle. Hope I don't end up with them de-laminating or otherwise failing down the road, but if so, I'll just have more to add to my already sizeable list of what not to do .




And here's the fun part-melted blinds... I saw this part way through and suddenly became more than a wee bit concerned.



I had the window open and a door to the back yard right behind me and to the side for some good ventilation. I started checking everything in the vicinity including my LP hoses, fittings, wall, window screen, but all were cool to the touch. When I reached up high, I could feel all the heat hanging in the air, down to about where those blinds were sagging...

Anywho, it may take me a little while to get through these, but will keep posting any progress here. I've read several threads on different sites about damascus making without a press or power hammer and know there are others who are in the same boat I am. I've wanted to make some tomahawks/camp hatchets for a long time and am hopefully going to make some out of this. I stuck them in vermiculite after setting the welds. I'm planning on grinding off the scale and MIG welds and think I'm going to drill some pilot holes to help me drift the eyes straight. I've also got a hardy tool in my mind that I want to make that will hopefully lend a helping hand when it comes to drawing out the blades.

Jeremy

P.S. Anyone else amazingly annoyed with Photobucket now? Took me forever with just these pics and they all still aren't right after umpteen tries.... There a better outfit to go with?

Last edited by Jeremy; 04-20-2013 at 09:08 PM.
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  #2  
Old 04-21-2013, 10:18 AM
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MLAZYB MLAZYB is offline
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Jeremy,
Looks like you are off to a good start. Let the damascus madness begin.

You might try and get a vent hood above your forge. This will draw the heat away from the blinds or anything else that may not like all that heat. Ask me how I know. I have destroyed 3 shop lights from the heat.

Please keep us posted on the progress.

Bing


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  #3  
Old 04-22-2013, 10:10 AM
Jeremy Jeremy is offline
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Thanks for the suggestion, Bing-I can add a box fan to the "killed by heat" bin, too . Looking forward to meeting you in a few days.

Jeremy
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Old 04-22-2013, 07:01 PM
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J. Doyle J. Doyle is offline
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Originally Posted by Jeremy View Post
Looking forward to meeting you in a few days.

Jeremy
Careful what you wish for Jeremy.


Just kidding Bing!

Bing's one of the best out there.



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Old 04-23-2013, 10:06 PM
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MLAZYB MLAZYB is offline
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Careful what you wish for Jeremy.
Jeremy, listen to John

Bing


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  #6  
Old 04-24-2013, 05:46 PM
Jeremy Jeremy is offline
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Before I left for the summit to see some friends who make much better knives than I do, I decided to clean these little stacks up and etch them. Figured maybe they can tell me how much I messed them up so I do better next time...

I ground off nearly all the scale and MIG welds (wasn't too worried at the moment, since they'll be getting put back in the forge again). Then I etched part of them in my ferric chloride (diluted nearly 4 to 1 with distilled water). Oh, and I didn't mention it at the beginning, but I ground off the mill scale of the mating surfaces on the 1084 prior to forge welding. Here's what I've got so far.




Hoping there aren't some ugly surprises on the inside for me later on, but only time will tell. Unless guided in a different direction, I'm planning on drilling some small guide holes next so when I slit the eye and drift it, it's more "square" than were I to do it without. After getting the eye close, I'm planning on drawing out the blade end, then the spike or hammer on the other side of the eye. Then, straighten everything up, make sure the eye is to the right dimension for my handles. After all of that, the quick work of grinding, sanding, etc... Should be fun .


Jeremy
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Old 04-28-2013, 03:15 PM
cdent cdent is offline
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Hey Jeremy, you make any progress on that billet.

Craig
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Old 04-29-2013, 12:13 PM
Jeremy Jeremy is offline
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Ya Craig-I'll have to get some pics loaded sometime. Great meeting you and hope the trip home went well.

Jeremy
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  #9  
Old 04-29-2013, 06:00 PM
Jeremy Jeremy is offline
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I took the steel with me to the Summit to get some opinions on whether or not I'd messed things up along the way. I certainly didn't expect Ed to suggest we put them in the forge and get the layer count up. Steve was kind enough to let me use his tools and in very short order (gotta build a press.....) I ended up with two of these.



Ground the scale all off, cut them into pieces, and made one stack of "crackers" as Bing put it.






In the end, I had one good sized block to bring home at about 106 layers instead of two smaller ones with a LOT fewer. Thanks again Ed for walking me through it all.


Jeremy
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Old 04-30-2013, 04:34 PM
Cthulhu Cthulhu is offline
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Is this a great community or what?
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