The only thing I can think of and it seems pretty obvious, is nipping off at least one scrap end early so you can do a quick test etch and double check your welds. Otherwise, it looks like you are covering things pretty thoroughly.
Great video Dennis, only thing I would add would be, as soon as the initial welds are set, grind off the weld spots, especially when doing a twist pattern.
You're the first person, for me and 2 years of watching Damascus builds, to point out the dark spot and "that's where the layers aren't welded yet." I really enjoy your videos and the mentoring you give all of us. Thank you!
@@TyrellKnifeworks I can see that. I use a gatorade bottle with one of the squeeze mouthpieces. You'll see it in my videos if I ever get one up LOL. On another note I have some stabilized wood for you. I meant to bring it when you did the knife makers meet up but forgot. I'll send it to your address. Thanks again for hosting that. I'm looking at the end of August or early September for another knife makers meet up at my shop.
Anhydrous borax is only anhydrous until you open the bucket, the 20 mule team Borax from the grocery store is just fine. I have been using it for 15 years
Clearly you've never actually used anhydrous borax. The crystals are larger and its not a powder like the 20 mule team. Try it and you'll see what I mean.
This may have been mentioned down below, but when you start twisting does the billet need to be back to forge welding temps or not? By then it should be one solid billet, so can you just go to bright orange 1,500 degrees?
I had heard elsewhere that you ideally want to be at welding heat during the twist to help avoid cold shuts. Do you feel that's necessary? On the two successful (hand-hammered) twist patterns I've done, I had to grind out a fair amount of cold shuts, but less on the more recent one where I made it a cylinder before twisting (as opposed to a square on the first one).
It should be at/near welding heat so that you can twist it more without risking shearing it apart, but that won't really prevent cold shuts. Rounding out your billet before you twist it helps more with that. Thanks for watching, John.
Hiya bud I didn't realise that you were doing these types of video's so I'm going to have a watch of the series's when you were talking about the welding and pushing the mild steel into the billit you could get around this buy using a tig and fuse weld a strip so that you are not introducing another metal, I used to do welding as a trade until I had a bad accident which has ruined my shoulder after bad surgeries, I like to try and get to making some knifes as iv always had an interest in knifes and only recently got into watching videos on making them, anyway keep up the great work pal
Quenching 5160 in water is a BAD idea. It’s already a slower quenching steel than most. It’s the one steel that quenches well with canola, use that or get ParksAAA. 👍
How long would it take to forge and draw out a billet that is about 2.5 inches tall 3.5 long and two wide by hand? Also thank you for doing such a great tutorial on damascus for us.
That usually indicates you didn’t have a good forge weld. Make sure you round out the billet into a cigar shape before you start twisting it, that will help not having cold shuts when forging it flat. I hope that helps.
@@TyrellKnifeworks Yes thank you I think that is exactly what I was my problem around the corners but not the whole thing like a cigar thank you again I really appreciate your help
@@TyrellKnifeworks yes tig is pretty "specialized" for the hobbyist. I really wish I could forge a knife but my body sadly doesn't let me beat a piece of steel into submission😂 I might get a heat or 2 done but that's about it so stock removal it is.
It would not work. Meaning that it would make it very weak because you'd have copper laterally in the blade and it would be on the cutting edge. You could do a twist as cladding, then copper, then a central core, which is exactly what I did for the recent katana build. Thanks for watching.
Slick video ! You explain the process very well . Jessie James does a lot of twisted Damascus for his 1911 builds, check out the handy machine he has to do the twisting 👍. Have a good holiday weekend 😎
You mentioned MIG welding, and also stick, but since I only have flux core on my Lincoln 140 wirefeeder, what do you think of that? So far I've only done 4 billets and all were just wired together. It worked on 3 of them.
I had always heard that when doing making a Damascus billet, having each layer the same thickness helps them heat up consistently and makes them weld together better. Is this true, or have I been falling for an urban myth?
That’s a complete myth. The thickness of the layers doesn’t not matter at all. Just don’t have thin layers on the outside because they warp easily. Thanks for watching.
Hay my friend let me have your address so I can send you a pair of my old boots I caught you wiggling to get a hot piece of slag out of your sandals lol love the vid
Oh man the way this forge looks, there are going to be epic builds with this. Can't wait to see a sword or something one day. You got the perfect angle on this too!!! You can see the smiling ball of fire!!!
Awesome :) thanks for this, so far every time I look at a forge welding video people are always using presses, I dont have one so it's awesome to see how someone welds with hammer and anvil
Another great way to enjoy a cup of joe and learn more about the great ways to make steel for knives. Thanks again for such great instructional videos. If only these would have been around years ago. Thanks Denis
great video denis ive made a bunch of random pattern damascus but never tried a twist yet appreciate all the time you put in to help us other makers Mark :)
I have a question regarding your forge. Forgot to ask it in the video where you explained how you made it. I noticed that your sliding door on the front has about an inch or so gap from the bottom. Wouldn't it be best to make that gap as small as it'll go? I know it's probably not that much in the grand scheme of things, but I was wondering if the heat that escapes through there would make a difference, either in how fast you get to temp or how much gas you use.
The gap in the front is actually only about a 1/2”. You do need some kind of gap because the forge does need air to escape with the fan feeding it. If I have the back door all the way closed and completely close the front it can “whistle” a little bit so I wouldn’t close it up any more. It’s plenty hot. Almost too hot.
That’s pretty good timing, 1.5 hrs all by hand. Have you ever tried using an impact driver/gun to twist bars? I want to say I’ve seen someone do it. Either they made the end a hexagon or cut a socket apart and made there own. I have a billet that needs twisting and debating on using my big 1,400ft lb impact on it. Just not sure if it will work like I’m thinking. Hate to ruin my canister billet.
Yes that can be done but it's a bit more work than it's really worth. Using the pipe wrench method is easy enough and far more control than using an impact driver. Plus with the impact driver you stand more of a chance at twisting the billet in to.
If you remember me and my book, it's going strong. I'm now writing the 5th and final chapter. I'm just about halfway done with it, maybe and after that I have an aftermath to do too. I really wanna publish it. And thank you for giving me inspiration for it
