Hello All!
I have an interesting Project that has been presented to me and wanted some input from the crew:
Making one blade from many high carbon steel blades and obtaining a raindrop pattern. This gentleman has several knives (see above: all on the thin side - a chef's knife, butcher knife, a leather awl, and several smaller hunter size knives made from WW2 Naval saw blades) that are old high carbon steel and in rough shape but have been in the family. He has no use for them but would like me to make them into one good knife. Based on the thinness of them and the differing sizes and shapes, I thought starting with a canister made the most sense with some 15N20 added in to ensure contrasting layers. Then folding that billet to get the higher layer count needed. Does anyone have a better idea, suggestions, or info that may help make this success? Also, can you weld a canister on a power hammer or do you need a press?
Thanks!
Ed C.
Ed, I have had some experience with projects like that. I hope this might help.
I took plow point and forged it flat and cut some rectangles the size of my typical Damascus stock and introduced the plow material at regular intervals within the billet.
For your project, I can envision taking the smallest blade and cut a rectangle that corresponds with some of your chosen stock's size. If it is a small blade, perhaps cut a 1 inch X 3 inch rectangle. Now, in turn use that to trace and cut rectangles from the other blades. This might amount to 3 or 4 rectangles from the old blades.
Pick some 1084 or 15N20 (or your chosen steels)and cut some more rectangles of that size. Stack these, letting the old blade material be interspersed within what is now a billet, albeit a small one. Go ahead and weld that billet up and forge it into a blade, if it's enough material. If it's still too small for a blade at this point, forge it into a size and thickness that corresponds with a size that you would normally create a billet from. Now you can sandwich it into your regular Damascus stock and build it up. It's likely the layer of old blade billet can be discerned within the etched blade.
Thanks Lin! Great idea...
