12T press

[papi]

hi guys, i'm starting to plan making my own damascus, i have a forge already figured out and i know how to do it, but the hammering is not the right thing to me, i was thinking of the hydraulic press, it has 12tons of pressure and 5inches height range(justa baby press)
my question is: woulld it be enough to make bars for my folders?(usual size is 1x1/8x6inches)

thanks for answers, some info would really help me

[Ray Rogers]

It might squeak by as far as the available tons of pressure is concerned if you are making very small billets as you have indicated. But, 5" isn't much room for dies and working a billet. Your finsihed size may be small but initially the billet will be larger and you need room for the larger billet AND the dies. You can, of course, start with smaller billets and squeeze them out, cut, and restack to build layer count but the smaller billets will lose heat faster and you will have to heat the steel more times.

Aside from those considerations, you'll find that making a tiny billet like that isn't very efficient. You burn pretty much the same amount of fuel as you would making a larger billet and you'll spend about the sameamount of time at it, you'll just have less to show for your efforts. So, if you have limitations that prevent you from having a larger press then that little one will allow you to do some work and it's better than nothing. The standard press size (if there is a standard) is about 25 tons with 8" of travel and there are times when that seems barely adequate...

[Delbert Ealy]

I make alot of damascus,
I use a thirty ton press, but before getting it I was accustomed to making 2-3 lb billets by hand. I made a few of the same size billets with the press at first and although better than doing it by hand it was slow. I doubled the size of the billets and it got better, I doubled again and it works great. The main reason for this is that the dies act as heat sinks, and so a good mass is necessary to keep from sucking all the heat away from the billet. That said I agree with Ray that a 24 ton psi is a good minimum. I think you will find that you can build a fairly compact press with that minimum. As for the 5" stroke, that is not a problem as long as you design the press to take full advantage of that stroke. In other words make all dies the same height and only allow maybe 1/4" overshoot. that way you have nearly all your stroke if you need it.
Del

[papi]

thanks guys, i think i'll go to look for something bigger