My first damascus knifes

[J.Lec]

Hi all. this weekend I got to make my first damascus Knives. I started with a 14" X about 1 3/16" X 3/16" 1084 /15N20 random pattern bar from Dan Seaver. I wound up (on the recomendation of Bladsmth) cutting the bar in 2 peices and had some 1018 barstock welded on to make my full tang handles from. viola now have enough to make 2 knives just in case I screwed somthing up.
Knife # 1 is a boning style knife for my mom's fiance.


10.5" OAL with a 5 3/4" BL with a nice distal taper
Knife # 2 is a hunter/camp Knife


8"OAL 3.5"BL. with a distal taper.
my big drill bit kinda gave up wanting to cut for me so I wound up with 2 thro holes and 2 deep divots for weight reduction along with mt one pin and a thong tube hole
I was comtemplating trying a tapered tang on this one but I wussed out. I only have the contact wheel grinder and I wasnt confident I could keep it flat while tapering it
will be sending out for HT asap thanks for looking

[Doug Lester]

Looking good. It will be nice to see them sanded out and etched.

Doug Lester

[J.Lec]

thanks I'm quite excited to see them etched myself. I can see the pattern in there in flashes when I hold it right in the light

[cbr900son]

Yeah I just finished my first damascus blade and i was so nervous knowing the metal was so expensive

[J.Lec]

Yeah this is the first time I've used such a pricy material. I was sweating a bit when I started for sure.

[argel55]

After heat treat finish it to a high grit before etching to give a better look. The finer finish will give a better etch.

[J.Lec]

Well another weekend and made some progress. got them both up to a 400 rough machine finish. I'll leave them here for HT. My bad luck, the fine folks at Knifemaker.ca are gone to a show in Kamloops (my old stompin' grounds) and wont be back untill may 9 so I'll mail it off around the first and they should get done and back to me quick.

Wanted to take a bunch of weight off the butt end of the boning knife so I joined 3 of the 4 large weight reduction holes with hack saw and files and I then filed closer to the front hole. brought the balance point right to the ricasso area. so once the handles are put on it should be decent.


went ahead and did a simple zig-zag filework pattern from the butt right up to about 1.5" from the tip.

[Doug Lester]

It looks like you were overheating the edge of the blade during grinding from the dark blue oxidation there. That's not a problem before heat treating but it will ruin the temper of the blade afterwards. You may want to use less pressure grinding and cool often during final grinding.

Doug

[J.Lec]

Originally Posted by Doug Lester

It looks like you were overheating the edge of the blade during grinding from the dark blue oxidation there. That's not a problem before heat treating but it will ruin the temper of the blade afterwards. You may want to use less pressure grinding and cool often during final grinding.

Doug

yeah I dont worry too much about temps while grinding. once they get back from HT I grind with out gloves and dip in water after every pass.

[J.Lec]

knives got back from HT yesterday. let the sanding begin lol
the pattern in the damascus is visible in the oxidation tried to ge a pic but it dosnt show up. wont be long now

[J.Lec]

I'm about to start the finish work. my problem is Ive called every radioshack in town and none of them carry ferric chloride. is there anything else I can use to etch the damascus that might be easier to source?
please help.

[J.Lec]

would vinegar or lemon juice work? I have a small bit of extra from these knives mabye I'll do some experimenting....

[Crex]

White vinegar works well but is a slower process. Use a tall glass spagetti holder with a 60W lamp trained up against it to warm it. Check the process every couple of hours by taking out and scrubbing with your wife's toothbrush and rinse with water. Repeat until you get to the desired etch depth. Be patient, it will take longer. Work on something else while you wait.....like cleaning up that nasty shop or buying flowers for your wife so you'll be ready when she finds the tooth brush!

[J.Lec]

Lol that's awesome. Bout made me spit my coffee at the computer screen. I tried vinegar lastnight but wasn't sure how long to leave it for so after an hour I pulled it out and gave it a wipe and and most of the etch wiped off. So I went to bed and now it's back in there. I'll leave it longer this time.