I have a crazy idea... multi bar knife. I want the spine of the blade to symbolize chaos or entropy by the pattern. I want the edge of the knife to symbolize order. I've got a secret thing that'll go in between to separate the order from the chaos.
What patterns should I consider for order and chaos? I'd like to not have to tile or mosaic, no end patterns. Not opposed to grinding down to the center of the pattern instead of forging to final dimension.
If it's chaos you want, you might use some billet end cuts and randomly pick the order in the stack. Of course, I don't have to really try to achieve chaos. It comes naturally to some people.
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I don't have to really try to achieve chaos. It comes naturally to some people.
You got that right! Just take a photo of our main work bench and forge that into a bar...... <img src=' http://www.americanbladesmith.com/ipboard/public/style_emoticons//laugh.gi f' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':lol:' />
Whenever I do a multi-bar blade there are two important factors in determining the patterns and layout. Size and shape of the blade. Small blades and multi-bar patterns take different combinations than a big Seax, Bowie, or a dagger.
If I were to make a bar to represent chaos, I would go along the lines of what Lin suggested. I would make that bar a multi-bar pattern of at least three distinct bars. Using the parameters of no end grain and no tiled patterns, I would do this: One bar of raindrop, one bar of low layer (20) tight twist, and one bar of either flat laminate or wrought iron. Wrought, especially good quality, has a pattern all it's own in a blade. I would forge those three bars into a single square and twist it, so the three patterns spiraled around each other. Then I would square that up and weld it to the other two bars.
I think an end grain pattern, accordion cut, would show order the best, or a mosaic, but you don't want that so you could get the same effect with a simple ladder with wide rungs.
Unfortunately, those look best (IMHO) when the billet is accordion cut. A really tight twist in the edge would show a pretty ordered series of forms especially in a lower layer (12-17) and a deep grind.
Just my thoughts.
Joshua States
www.dosgatosforge.com
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“So I'm lightin' out for the territory, ahead of the scared and the weak and the mean spirited, because Aunt Sally is fixin’ to adopt me and civilize me, and I can't stand it. I've been there before.â€
I hade this written a lot better then hit add a reply on accident and erased it. here's a more streamlined version: I would use mono steel like 52100 for order which can be bought from blacksmithdepot.com at 3/4th round, square that up as it etches bright than for the Chaos I would use several 5-inch stacks say a grayscale pattern of 1075,15N20,1095,w2,1075,52100,1084 with each stack having a different thickness of the steel as you can get a lot of different thickness from NJSB.com. draw them out to 10 inches, cut them into 2.5-inch stacks stack them together till i have 3 to five bars say 5 inches then latter one, twist one, leave one as is, cut them in half, stack them and weld them using that for chaos.
the reason I end with simple carbon steel and have it between each lair is simple carbon steel welds to anything.
If you want darker steel for order go with w1 as you can get it in thick rounds from amazon or Speedy metals.
I also recommend reading Damascus theory and practice to learn more about making damascus as it covers a lot of ways to make damascus patterns and gives you information on getting the steels to stick together.
Book: https://smile.amazon...ps%2C180&sr=8-2
52100 round: https://www.blacksmi...nd-bar-3-4-x-18
NJSB: https://newjerseysteelbaron.com/
W1 round: http://www.speedymet...2-category.aspx or https://smile.amazon...&ref=nb_sb_noss
