"W" Pattern Damascus WIP my way

[Mick Maxen]

Mike, I know what you mean about the "white ghosting". I have seen this myself. I think that after all the hard work that goes into this stuff, the final weld is soaked in heat for longer just to make sure of the weld and does the borax have some sort of "washing effect" on the steel, especially the manganese.


Mick.

[Mike Turner]

Making a push to get this one done this weekend, so here we go.

Here I tack weld the can together so I can remove the clamps and weld it up.



Welded both sides down the length time for the end caps.



I cut out 2 end plates from a large plate.



I weld on one end.



I then weld a piece of rebar on the end and sorry for the over blown shot.



Then I cut a piece of cardboard to put in the can to eat the air up.



Placing the cardboard in the can.



And then I weld the other end plate on and this is ready to forge weld.



More to come.

[Mike Turner]

Had a TV Celebrity friend ( Jeremy VanSchoonhoven ) of mine in the shop today, helping him build a new shoeing forge so I had him take some action shots.

Starting to forge weld this with my 26 ton press.









Then I remove it from the can and weld on a piece of rebar to finish forging this down.



Jeremy trying to get into the photo good think for bokeh .



And here we have the bar all forged to size so we can cut it up for the final weld.





Billet all cleaned up ready to be cut up.




Stay tuned we have a money shot coming.

[Mike Turner]

And now for the money shot.



And a close up.



Well we have one more weld to do so off to the shop I go to build one last can and get this bar finished, stay tuned.

[Mike Turner]

Now I stack these up and clamp them to tack weld them.



All tack welded and ready to put in the can.



Now I cut a piece of square tubing to make our can.



No I need to split the tube.




More to come.

[Mike Turner]

Now I start to prepare the can, I did not have a tube tall enough so I will have to extend this tube to fit the billet.



I cut some used stainless steel heat treat foil to go on the two end which is the top and bottom of the billet. I also put some paper in to eat up the air.



Sides welded up.



Now I cut end plates from a large plate.



End plates welded on.



Then I weld on a piece of rebar to be able to handle this.



Then I forge weld this.



Then I peel the can open to retrieve the welded billet. Also in this picture is another "W" pattern billet I am working on that is a special billet but I did not photograph it.



Then I pop the billet out of the can.



And here we have our little billet .





This was the last weld for this billet so soon as it cools down we will be taking a slab off to see the finished billet.

[Mike Turner]

OK so hope I made you all suffer long enough :p, so here she is.


512 layers of "W's".



And a shot to show the size of this billet.




In the next few days I will be rough forging a blade for a customer and will post a pic of the forged blade to show how the pattern will chase the blade.

Thanks for watching and please feel free to ask questions or comment.

[Mike Turner]

Mike, I know what you mean about the "white ghosting". I have seen this myself. I think that after all the hard work that goes into this stuff, the final weld is soaked in heat for longer just to make sure of the weld and does the borax have some sort of "washing effect" on the steel, especially the manganese.


Mick.

Interesting Mick, maybe I can get one of the steel guru's to help and do some testing and see what is going on if anything maybe some microscopic photos.

[Sako85]

Thanks for the reply Mike, I suspect many people would be interested in seeing successfully produced well figured stainless steel damascus. Analytical grade Sodium Borate ("Analar") may be worth trying to solve the white ghosting if you think it may be an impurity based problem ?

[CAL G]

Mike really enjoyed your write up.

What was the initial thickness of the 1080 ? and 15N20 steel used to make the billet ?

Thanks

[Mike Turner]

Thanks Sako85 I will have to look into that.


Cal, Thanks , The 1080 I use is 3/16" and the 15N20 is .070" and I double that.

[CAL G]

Thanks Mike.

I have been told that the "white ghosting" on the edges is from decarbing the steel.

I know Steve Kelly will mig weld the edges and dry weld the billet to prevent it.
I like your method of doing it in a can then you don't have to grind the welds off the billet and find out
that you missed some of the weld and have a junk billet.

[Dirtty Butter]

just loved following this through all the stages.........great post and great damascus, well done

[Mike Turner]

Cal I will mig weld at times too but I prefer not to because I did as you said I missed some weld metal that got forged into the blade. I think I will contact a few people about this white line ghosting and find out what is really going on with it.

Thanks Dirtty Butter, glad you liked it.

[bikespod]

Fascinating and informative. Doesn't the can turn into a small explosive device as you heat it, what with it being airtight?
Looking forward to seeing the blade.