Forging ladder Damascus and making a knife 

The finished knife is absolutely stunning!

I actually really enjoy watching you building up and pounding the layers of Damascus

Great knife, John! I love that lanyard holder, definitely gonna use that in the future. 👍

woooooo great video

Great job no one really knows how hard and long it takes to make a good knife 👍👍👍

"Nothin to it really" 😂😂 Awesome video though

when you say to somebody "i'm a blacksmith" , john is the prototipe that they think off , when reallity is way different lol

Beautiful piece and I really like that lanyard loop.

WOW... that's a beautiful piece of art!

10:34 great tip Johnn, thanks for share 👍🏼

First class work. Thanks for a terrific vid and project.

Rob you lucky duck look forward to talking once it arrives

Yes JOHN loving the frequent uploads!

Hi john loving your videos just wish you uploaded more

I love Borax it works every time.

A really helpful video. Thanks!

" she dumped me so I never gave it back" that was hilarious 😂

Great looking knife 🔪 🤩👍

Im always tempted to do the "Nothing to it really" drinking game...but frankly i wanna live.

Another beautiful blade man!

Beautiful piece

Well done great looking knife Take care

Bro your my hero I love your work and your content please keep it coming!!!!

Etymology:From chatoyant, present participle of chatoyer, from chat (because of the reflective qualities of a cat's eye). Webster Dictionary. (“Chat” in French is “cat”.). Now you know! And that pattern is fantastic!

I think a ladder pattern is in my near future, thanks for your inspiration! Great looking knife!

all i can say about that knife is that is is one sexy piece of steel . great work and thank for sharing

I thought the shot on Instagram was cool, this video showed the whole story thanks for posting as always great video.

Had me cracking up talking about your flux container lol.

Thank you

Very well done sir!

Awesome work as always 👍🏻

Woo Hoo! ;-) Looks great, sir!

looks beautiful!!

There's always nothing to it until there is

Very nice work!

Came out great, pattern looks beautiful

Nice work👍

You can also mix your epoxy on a couple of strips of masking tape right on the work bench

Given what I've learned of females over the years I feel you got the better end of that deal... oh, and love your work and new digs.

John - I made a smaller Damascus knife based on this video with a rat tail lanyard loop and brought to the Blade Show to show you. Hope you and your father are OK since you did not make it to Atlanta - stopped by your table several times.

The canister you keep your borax in is a sugar sifter and you can pick them up brand new for about $10 or less.

Yea I love that effect, it's like curly maple. In the end it boils down to visual effect on modern pattern welded aka Damascus. 👍🤝

Would love to see it with a coffee etch..

That's a really good looking knife. Good job man.

"I borrowed it from a girl I was seeing but she dumped me so I never gave it back" 😆🤣 OH WOW that was HILARIOUS!!!

Really impressive! Beautiful knife

Copper pins are the best.

That knife turned out really well. The damascus pattern was beautiful. Nice work!

Nice work. You look like my kin, probably have a common ancestor

Beautiful knife! Congrats to the winner 🙌

John, Great video and awesome looking knife. Your skill level has improved so much in the past few years and has inspired me to increase mine as well. Thanks for all your help in my own endeavors with your feedback and videos. I always look forward to seeing you post bud. Thanks

You need to make a shirt that says their ain’t nothing to it really

If found that running the blade on a contact wheel with the scotch brites with the blade vertical getting your scratches in the directly would with hand sanding it comes out way better and can provide a decent etch

Beautiful. Forge On. Keep Making. God bless.

Another great video, thanks

I think I got too much of a kick out of the "I borrowed it from a girl I was seeing, and then she dumped me, so I never gave it back" haha.

Your borax shaker is called a dredge can or dredge shaker.

I am in like Flynn, I just subscribed and love Damascus workmanship!!! Maybe I can WIN the next Kool Knife, ha ha ha!!! liked#501!!!

Best chatoyance I've seen from ladder dies. I was predicting more of a fail when I saw the shape of them. Boy was I mistaken! The first ladder dies I ever saw, were the ones Devin Thomas (?) used that had hardened dowel pins fixed to each plate that produced a rippled pattern like a Ruffles potato chip.

Love it! Pattern came out fantastic! I do a similar tail on some of my knives and find it adds a great deal of visual interest, like you said. Such a cool look!

Came out great, pattern looks awesome!

This is the most beautiful knife I’ve seen you make so far. Very very cool, I’d love to own something like this from you at some point soon.

Amazing look, those dies work really well gave a great look, that lanyard holder looks amazing as well, I was wondering all the way through :) Great build and Vid, really enjoyed it, thanks for sharing.

Really nice design! The ladder pattern looks great!

Beautiful pattern!

“There really ain't nothin' to it” x 50 lol

Really glad to see you on RU-vid again man! That blade (despite the camera not doing it enough justice) is beautiful, hopefully someday I'll be on your level lol.

When I saw how deep you pressed the ladder pattern in I worried that it was too much. Obviously I was wrong, but it looked like there must have been some serious hammering involved to get the billet flat again.

Gorgeous! Nice work!

Hey John, I noticed you hadn't posted a video in a while, I hope everything is ok with you and I hope to see a new video when you can post one. Take care.

beautiful knife john love it

Beautiful.

Chatoyance means Shadow in the Steel as far as Bladesmithing goes... (I think)... or Cats Eye Effect is what some call it. Regardless... That Pattern sort of makes the Blade look like it was just dipped in water O.o ... Nicely Done :)

So pretty!

Awsome work! I enjoyed the video.

Wow very very nice, what did m working up too

Hand sanding can really plays with someones sanity. i use my cordless drill to insert my pins, ive ruin some handles using a hammer

Was wondering about the "tail" piece or lanyard loop. Love the knife,

Isn't "turn the machine on" the first line in the army handbook?

What's your workout routine? I'm wondering how I go about being even half as ripped as you within the next few years. Awesome work man keep it up. I am making my first two axes in the next few days taking heavy inspiration from your video "making a Viking axe 4" and I'm making these axes for a customer so I really hope it goes well. Thanks for all the inspiration man. Have a great day.

Turned out real good John. Chatoyance (spelling?) is a very neat affect. Been wanting to try it on some twisted Damascus and see if it works

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHH

OOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHH

👍👍👍🍻🍻🍻

Awesome work brother. Was wondering what do you do to keep your high carbon knifes from catching rust?

Do your skills allow you to forge your own sifter for borax?

Osmo

Where do you buy your HC round stock?

Where did you get your quench tank?