Your videos are always worth watching.i achieved my first pattern welded cable just two days ago and have now gained the confidence in my forges abilities to reach forge welding temperature. Thank you for your video
Hello, I'm interested in getting started. I'm in the research stage right now but I will be putting together a small shop soon enough! My whole life I've been working for other people, I know I won't become rich over night, or I might not even become the slightest bit rich but I'd just like to learn how to make something with my own hands. Crafting is something that makes us human and unfortunately we are losing that in my generation and future generations. Let's bring it back!
Great video and very informative. I'm new to forging and actually just bought my forge not long ago and have been looking for fun things to try. Going to be making a lot of railroad spike knives and file blade knives but I'm always looking for new ideas.
would you recommend slightly untwisting the cable after the first heat to open up the cable a bit and get the heat into the cable to burn off some of the nasty stuff? fire it up again flux and twist it tight?
There seems to be a lot of debate on flux between blacksmiths. Some say to avoid at all costs, others to use liberally. I learn better if I test multiple suggestions and find what works for me best in that sense. My question is simple though. What type of flux do you use and do you add anything to it. I've seen guys add charcoal and / or powdered 1084 to flux as well, but I'm not sure if that makes any difference or not. Also is it possible to take smaller diameter cable, stack and weld the ends and then use your process to get more material to work. For example if you used 5x 1/2" diameter chunks of cable and welded the ends to hold together during the first heat before the twist or would that cause too many inclusions after forge welding.
Trying it in the spring!! Maybe in the summer, or fall. I could do with a little more anvil time before I try sometricky stuff like that, but I got me a box of 20mule team just to be ready LOL
been trying to work some cable Damascus out of 100 year old logging cable, but I think it's too far gone. I was curious if you know if I can use half inch cable instead, because I have some logging cable thats fresher. Maybe if I take two pieces of cable and twist them together?
Just wondering, you showed using the borax on the first light weld. You didn't mention if you added more borax between each weld. That seems logical. That may have been covered in earlier videos. So the question is, did you?
Love your videos! Question: Did you re-flux for each of the 2nd and 3rd welding heats? You didn't say but I would think that if you did, the borax would eat any left-over scale, rust and any other impurities. OR maybe I'm looking at things too closely and if you flux between each successive heat it would take away from the pattern you want?? I'm not sure if I explained my question well but I hope you see where I was going with the first and second questions. I really do enjoy your videos! I'm not to the forge welding of Damascus yet but am hoping to get there this summer. Thanks!
Thank you! I might try it this summer. Unfortunately, I have a bone disease that only allows me to use a 3lb. hammer MAX. I assume that if it works at all for me it'll take a LOT longer! Anyway, thanks for the answer AND for the great videos!!
I have heavy gauge copper wire that I want to make into billets. Will forge welding the copper using these steps work out the same? Any other tips for doing this?
the video is very good I have been able to forge a piece of cable Damascus it's diameter is less than one inch diameter but I followed the instructions to the letter and it worked :-) thanks p.s: where do you get your cable as to give me a idea where to look here in Ireland :-)
question. why would you not weld the ends when forging your billet? if I'm not mistaken this makes it alot easer to keep in one piece when twisting. if you are worried about the weld just cut the tip later, but I find its rarely needed.
Silly question I'm new to this and your channel and if this has been answered just let me know. When prepping heavily corroded steel could you clean it through electrolysis over night. It seems that might remove a fair portion of the oxides and other impurities before your start. Just looking for your thoughts. Thanks and I look forward to going through your other vids.
I currently use lump wood charcoal in my forge due to the fact that I can't get a hold of coal very easily or its too damn expensive. it works but should I pay the extra money to get coal? is it much more effective or hot?
So your cable was rusted to all hell but what should be done to a newer piece of cable? The stuff I am use to is always galvanized and I never see the heavy weight stuff rusted like that. Can I burn off the galvanization with heat and flux just like the rust? I would assume so because it's just another type of oxidization but I don't know if the zinc would cause an issue in the quality of the weld. Maybe the borax would eat that to but idk. I'm still new in the forging department but this looks like a fun and interesting way to make some Damascus "unless you have galvanized cable and huff the fumes :-)"
Damascus Steel: Steel made with a wavy surface pattern produced by hammer-welding strips of steel and iron followed by repeated heating and forging. Sounds like Damascus to me. So, all of you who have nothing better to do than criticize, go be nasty to a waitress or something, I'm sure you always do!
If you've got a decent flux, all the oxides should come out in the first couple of heats anyhow. Rust is just another oxide. If cable were nickel steel it would be tougher to get out but otherwise rust shouldn't be a problem.
All the old stuff is going to make its way here. -hopefully- if these videos do extremely well, they will finance a fancy new camera with which to film the new series! So, just be patient!
This is a good video, and is well explained. Right on. As with all mystery steels, the final result may vary, but this is what makes the knife "unique". For a VERY High Quality Knife of course, it might / maybe always be better to BUY a specific steel for the purpose. Or better YET just buy a Mass produced knife. But it will never have the character of a hand forged piece. Store bought knives don't usually make good "conversation pieces" that can CUT. Making it out of "mystery steel" is kind of a gamble most always, but that is what makes it a "novelty". And of course, Blacksmiths for many years ago had to make DO with what they had. Making something from Mystery Steel, to me anyway, gives operator a chance to learn or even display his skill. To make something ONLY of what you have is the mark of a craftsman to ME. It is a survival skill. In past times of great economic depression, people had to use what they HAD and that is ALL. To build a barn out of varying materials, and make it WORK AND if it is built in a good looking way IN SPITE of using dissimilar materials is a great exhibition of ABILITY. It is almost a lost art, the art of MAKING DO. The way things are going, these "Money Maniacs" really I think they are Psychopaths, when they finishing busting the WHOLE WORLD, making do will suddenly become very important. BB
+purgatoryironworks Can you not soak the cable in a vinegar bath the day before then heat and flux the daylights out of it? Just curious if that added step would help for eating the rust inside the outer layers and help with possible inclusions. Great video!!!
Stefan Gremore I wonder the same thing. You can soak galvanized pipe in vinegar for a few days and it removes the zinc, so I’m sure the appropriate acid would work well for rusty steel.
maratic acid (hydrocoloric acid) pool chemical supply can buy it by the gallon, i have used it to eat the rust out of the inside of motorcycle gas tanks. it will also etch concrete and brick. Backing soda will neutralize it. that would leave you with clean clear steel.
Correct me if I'm wrong; the "Damascus" steel got it's name from the Syrian capital because, allegedly most of the steel swords made pre 1700's were sold in Damascus where the sword bearers praised the steel as the very best. The steel it's self came from southern India called "woots" steel.The mystical practice of making the Damascus swords was lost in the late 1700's as was the woots steel. Providing this info is accurate, how is it that you call this, Damascus? Simply because of the swirling designs which also resembled clothing patterns worn in Damascus. Thanks for the responce.
+FUGYOO Its a misnomer, really. Wootz steel is the correct term but since the crusaders first encountered it in Damascus, the name kind of stuck, meaning any "Pattern Welded Steel" got tagged with the name. The correct terms are "Wootz Steel" for that particular steel from the Middle East and "Pattern Welded Steel" for steel intentionally folded to create designs.
The patterns are allegedly from plant life they mat have used to cool it. Thus why it has a high carbon content. You do nice work. Thanks for sharing with all. Be safe.
Thank you for posting I will try this this weekend , you can go to FB and see the results ,,, thanks again for posting no matter what some others have commented. (Check me spelling yall). Pineknot Forge.
I don't quite understand why this works. Usual damascus works by having two or more different kinds of steel so when you etch it, one gets eaten faster than the other, creating the pattern. But in this case, all the fibers are of the same kind of steel, so I don't understand why etching creates a pattern. I can only assume the pattern is created by the impurities between the fibers because if they were nicely forge welded together, it seems like you shouldn't be able to see the seams.
The outside skin of the cable loses carbon in the heating process and basically makes each wire two types of steel. Eh, perhaps more of a gradient of types. The outside of the wire leeches the most carbon but the inside doesn't.
***** You can tell by the way it looks. Galvanized means coated with zinc and zinc is very distinguishable from stainless steel, something else you don't want to heat, and regular carbon steel, what you do want to work with. Zinc looks like you spray painted something with metallic paint so galvanized metal will have that spray paint metallic quality, sometimes looking flecked and in some cases it looks dusted on since the coat doesn't need to completely seal the piece of metal from oxidation (rust).
The outside skin of the strands loses a lot of carbon due to the heat which makes it a different alloy. Basically, each strand will have a "halo" of decarburized metal around it. Thats what develops the pattern.
Dammit, I was hoping this was gonna be about handles. I remember seeing someone basically cover a piece of cable with a different metal, then grind off the outside layer of it so the exposed cable made a pattern on it. There's a word for it but I can't for the life of me remember what it was.
You can call a pidgeon a747 but that dosn't make it so. But you know in your heart of heart this isn't true authentic Damascus steel. I do understand Knife makers use the term very loosely.
And that is my exact point, Mr Benny. It is indeed a misnomer but its common lingo. What you left out is that the proper name for it is "pattern welded steel".
This is not true authentic Damascus "wootz" or Crucible steel made several to a thousand years ago in India. Please Google Wootz steel and pattern welded steel...Knife makers today loosely use the term Damascus "Wootz" steel because of the pattern on the steel thats the only simularity. This is not Damascus steel
After twenty years in the business, I had -no- idea. I mean, how in the world could I have missed Alfred Pendray's work on this.."wootz" steel as you call it. Hey, hey, did you know French fries aren't really french? Man, aint that google something!
purgatoryironworks lol! I started scrolling down in the comments, thinking "Now where's one of those guys who always have to chime in about Damascus,- Oh, there he is." The same type guy who would latch onto my table at a gun show, blocking would-be customers so he can "school" me on everything about bladesmithing from how nobody really knows how to make "true" Damascus because the secret was lost to how ancient samurai swords were quenched in human bodies.
dude - that is NOT Damascus, its "pattern welded" steel. You are not doing any folding as is done with proper Damascus, that is what differentiates the two. At this point you're saying you can just take any steel in any form, forge weld it together, and call it Damascus. I think that's wrong. Its "pattern welded steel" nice video
