I haven't tried it, but with the dimensions you're starting with it might be difficult to get sufficient mass for your bolster. If you have 1.5 x .25 stock and you reduce it by two thirds you will get less than .75" final thickness (some material will be lost to scale and grinding and some will get pushed out laterally) but then your ricasso will only be 0.5" tall. Will that be enough? If so, make sure you forge it very hot and in as few heats as possible.

On an integral you always have to remember that your bolster area should be the approximate thickness of your handle while also allowing sufficient space for your handle material on either side of the tang. If you have only 0.1" of extra bolster material on either side of the tang, your handle material will be pretty thin right there, which may compromise its strength.

Have you thought about forge-welding some extra damascus onto the billet to build up the bolster area? Say a 1.5" x 1" x 0.25" piece on either side? This would give you the mass you need to maintain sufficient thickness and width at the ricasso and leave you a little more margin for error.

One final comment on integrals: If you plan on adding them to your repertoire, consider investing in a hammer or press and making dedicated forging dies. The extra time and effort may not be worth it for a one-off project, but over the long term it will dramatically increase productivity and efficiency. The dies in particular will help keep the blade and tang properly aligned, resulting in much less grinding and material loss further on in the process.

Travis,

You can forge these. Just concentrate on the bolster first, positioning the material in the bolster, then forge backwards to get the tang and forge forwards to get the blade. In this order, you can forge hidden or full tang.

For instance, if it's a hidden tang, the steps would be roughly like this:

Orient the bar where you are holding it in your hand on the blade end whether with tongs or a long enough bar that you can hold it in hand. Heat the bar to a very high heat right where the bolster will be allowing enough material beyond to draw out for the tang. This might be 3 inches or so. Better to have plenty. Using the anvil edge closest to you, drive the bar down with half on/half off hammer blows. Make a couple good strong blows and go back in the fire to keep it HOT for this. Bright yellow. The spine should end up in line with the bolster top with a sharp ish step underneath which will eventually be the choil/bolster transition. Do not forge the tang yet.

If the bolster does not yet have the volume necessary at this point, heat it again yellow and quickly place the blade end downward into the jaws of your post vise up against the bolster and strike the tang end driving/upsetting material into the bolster. Go ahead and round the bolster along the way and repeat this if necessary. Get the bolster area to where you can work with it and forge the tang, then forge the blade using tongs to grip the tang. you can further refine the back of the bolster by using a blacksmith bolster tool or just grind it to shape.

Remember, the right heat will be just as important as the rest of your tools.

|quoted:

Travis,

You can forge these. Just concentrate on the bolster first, positioning the material in the bolster, then forge backwards to get the tang and forge forwards to get the blade. In this order, you can forge hidden or full tang.

For instance, if it's a hidden tang, the steps would be roughly like this:

Orient the bar where you are holding it in your hand on the blade end whether with tongs or a long enough bar that you can hold it in hand. Heat the bar to a very high heat right where the bolster will be allowing enough material beyond to draw out for the tang. This might be 3 inches or so. Better to have plenty. Using the anvil edge closest to you, drive the bar down with half on/half off hammer blows. Make a couple good strong blows and go back in the fire to keep it HOT for this. Bright yellow. The spine should end up in line with the bolster top with a sharp ish step underneath which will eventually be the choil/bolster transition. Do not forge the tang yet.

If the bolster does not yet have the volume necessary at this point, heat it again yellow and quickly place the blade end downward into the jaws of your post vise up against the bolster and strike the tang end driving/upsetting material into the bolster. Go ahead and round the bolster along the way and repeat this if necessary. Get the bolster area to where you can work with it and forge the tang, then forge the blade using tongs to grip the tang. you can further refine the back of the bolster by using a blacksmith bolster tool or just grind it to shape.

Remember, the right heat will be just as important as the rest of your tools.

This pretty much exactly describes what I envisioned in my head--I'm glad I'm at least thinking straight. I'm wondering whether this would be more or less difficult than reducing 1" round stock by hand to achieve the same results.

I have done this a few time and found that it is far easier to forge form larger round stock, that said it can be done. what Lin described is pretty much how I have done it, (i used a torch to reheat the section I was up setting) the only other ting I would mention is that having drop in plates with a radius on the edge to grab the stock and one on anything used on the back side is a good idea I had a few of these fail in the forging from cold shuts or stress cracks forming around the transition.

mp

OK yeah, upsetting from the bottom and the sides would work but you asked "is it worth it?" Since you're using damascus, I would say it's probably a bit faster and more efficient simply to take some material off the ends and stack and weld them on to the bolster area. You'd maintain more consistent layering density in your damascus and run a much lower risk of having your billet delaminate during heavy upsetting work. If you were using monosteel I'd answer differently.