I'm sorry you lost your friend Karl. I know how it feels.

I'm planning on starting a project soon that will amount the same thing, but not chain and not with such sentiment. Important to me but not in the same ball park as yours. I intend to build a low lying box of high carbon steel with pieces and powdered steel mixed as evenly as possible. I plan on welding that, cut it up and layering it with my regular steel layers to finish with a billet whose unique material is present, even though it's not recognizable in the blade. I'll then use a chosen piece of the material in the fittings that is recognizable.

That's what I have planned. I have not done it yet, but am pretty confident it will work. Take it for what it's worth. I wish you success.

http://www.knifenetwork.com/forum/showthread.php?t=44763 This is a tutorial that Ariel made, he does some amazing work.

Karl I did two of them a couple of years ago. I cut the chain into four even lengths and stacked those in a stainless foil lined box. Then I filled the box with 1084 powder I had gotten from Kelly cupples. I vibrated the box and refilled and vibrated somemore and so on. I put a pc. of paper in the box and welded it shut. After heating and pressing to weld I cut it out of the box and had a very solid billet. This billet wasn't folded after drawing the bar out at all as the owner wanted the chain links to be recognizable which it was but the contrast between the powder and chain was a bit on the drab side. I'm not sure how I'd go about livining it up a bit.

Karl

I am so sorry to hear this news. Is this the man that made so many videos for your page. My heart goes out to you and his family. I will say a prayer for the family and the project. What an honor to make such a special project. I would love to see some pictures or video of the process.

Karl,

I've welded these up before, using different methods. By the time I got done, the links were stretched to a point that the blade wasn't recognizable as chain links. It's pretty hard to preserve the pattern, or least it was for me, but there was another aspect that reared its ugly head, that you need to know about.

Not every chain manufacturer uses high-carbon steel for its links, and I suspect that many are a combination of high and low-carbon stock. I found this out the hard way, as my last chain blade wouldn't harden, even using brine. I was finally able to get it somewhat hard, but not enough that I would trust the blade to be servicable. This was without drawing, by the way. A pattern of sorts was visible after the quench, so I don't think the absence of a bright element (nickel, chromium) is fatal to an etched pattern.

It seems to me that any method that ensures a sufficient carbon count would suffice, though the pattern might suffer. Powdered 1084, as listed above would probably be a good choice, though not necessarily the strongest under a flex load. This blade was welded of sections of the chain cut and tacked together. It sometimes looks to be quite a mess when doing it that way, until everything begins to "stick." I didn't spend that much time with it and never really thought out a way to introduce nickel or chromium to the mix for contrast to produce a decent pattern. I also don't work with powdered steels much, so I'm not up to date on what alloys are offered.

Above all, however, check the chain and make sure of what you're dealing with. An all High-carbon chain would certainly simplify matters, if such a thing exists. Luck to you on your project; it sounds worthwhile.

Greg

Hello:

I've done some chain welding and its not to easy..I used the Harley chain with the shiny links-I cut the chain and snaked it back and forth length wise about the size of the blade I wanted-welded it with the mig and if you want the round pins to show round you should use flat dies to weld with-you fuse the chain straight down - if you do any stretching the round links will smear or become oval..if you are careful you can weld the chain without moving the steel very much..if its not welded all the way through you can look at the side and you'll see the voids--I think you'd better look around for some more chain because it took me a couple before getting what I wanted-Good Luck..If you want a look at one of my chain Bowies take a look at donhethcoat.com.......

I really appreciate all the response.

Jared, yes, he's the guy that was helping me with my videos.

One of the most incredible men I've ever met, with so many dreams for an unfinished life. Only 39 years old.

Gone in a flash. A bright shining star went out that night.

Anyway, I was concerned about many of the variables mentioned here. And I knew that chances of any great success were not all that good.

I may end up welding it up and using it for guards and spacers or something.

I've really just started this project, so I have plenty of time to come up with something.

I may not end up making a knife at all. Maybe just something out of the pattern welded billet.

You guys are great.

Dear Karl,

Sorry to hear about your friend. It is always hard to lose someone.

I have welded chainsaw chain and simply wired several chains together and arc welded them to a work handle. I previously cleaned them in Kerosene. I put the end in the fire and cautiously weld it up to where it meets the handle. Then fold and continue. Each successive weld is easier as the work becomes more solid. Since it is the chain links that give it the pattern it is not necessary to make a lot of "layers" to create a pattern.

As your project is so important I would try to find some similar chain and "test" my welding theory prior to using the sentimental chain.

Good luck and best wishes,

Jim Crowell

Karl,

I've been thinking about this for chainsaw chain to not distort the pattern. What if you welded a billet of chain in a box and used a nickel or chrome powder for filler to bring out the pattern. Then slice that and make a san-mai style blade with some ( insert your choice of core /edge material here ) in the center and sandwich it with the high contrast slices?

Steve Seib

Karl, I sure do like steve's idea. The way you do that san-mai blade in the past rocks man!!

That would look realy cool with the chain over like that. What ever you do with it I know it will be awesome.

Thanks for the kind thoughts guys.

Believe it or not, I had a similar idea today while working.

I have some old 15N20 10" wide band saw steel that's nearly .100" thick. I was thinking of stacking a few pieces of that together to make about a .250" piece of core material for san mai.

Then forging the chain together and using it as the outer jacket of the san mai.

With the 15N20 as the core, it should have a good cutting edge and etch nicely.

I will probably accomplish this is my new shop! <img src=' http://www.americanbladesmith.com/ipboard/public/style_emoticons//smile.gi f' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':)' />

Karl:

This could be a great Work in Progress (WIP) for the ABS website.

Karl, I like the idea you have with the san mai core. You just do not see san mai much out there. It's a good niche market and could become big if handled right. Good luck at it.

|quoted:

Karl, I like the idea you have with the san mai core. You just do not see san mai much out there. It's a good niche market and could become big if handled right. Good luck at it.

You mean like this?