hard and soft steel etching?

I made a damascus skining knife, out of cainsaw blades. Because of the different hardness properties of damascus, one being a hard steel, the other bein a soft low carbon steel.
welded together. they are both quenched at the same temp. would the edge holding ability be soft and hard in places?
and will it mark to different colours, when name etched?

Yes, what you said sounds right. That's why damascus is usually done in a substantial number of layers. Besides making a nice pattern it assures that the soft spots aren't too large. That's also why some people like damascus skinning knives so much. The theory is that the soft pieces break off (microscopically speaking) allowing the hard parts to form a sort of miniature serrated edge that cuts meat really well.....

thanx ray,
can anyone tell me how they etch there names on damascus?

If you are talking about electro-etching your name (logo) into the steel, the different steels will etch the same. Your logo will not have varying colors.

thanks bob,it was worrying me that i`d only see half my name, in places !

I`ve mooved up in the world, and made a proper forge!
(no more open camp fire on the ground)

can you`s suggest what kind of coke ?
is there a special one ?
and whats the difference between coke and coal ?


thanks again.

Since you plan on working a coal forge, the Neo-Tribal forum is where most of the people that use coal hang out. You may want to visit there often.

As for coal and coke. Coal is what comes from the ground (raw). After you light it on fire there will be a yellowish color smoke and you will smell sulpher. Once all of the sulpher is gone, you have coke. You want to be sure to get a good coke fire going before you start to use the fire. As you are working, you move new raw coal around the fire on the edges so it will burn off it's sulpher, then as you need it you add this new coke to the fire.

You can buy coke. I can get it here in Dallas for about $15 per 100 lbs. Depending on where you live, you can probably get it but it is getting harder to find. Look up "farrier" in the phone book and see if there is a school around or a private farrier and give them a call. They usually buy in bulk and are willing to sell you some or let you add to their next order. You can also go to the ABANA web site and see if there is a blacksmiths association anywhere around you. They usually buy in bulk and sell cheap to the members.

On your coal and coke question Bob gave you some good information. I'm really surprized he didn't try to talk you into going with propane. The last time I bought coal was about two years ago and was able to get what I had been getting for years. I bought 200 pounds of it, I believe it is Elk Creek brand and it is smithing coal. Two weeks later I switched to propane and still had maybe 190 pounds of it left till I gave Wayne Goddard 40 pounds of it in January this year. Its harder and harder to get the right kind of coal anymore. The place I got it from has switched brands and what I hear that they have now is just crap. Coke will do the job and it will also turn what your forging into a sparkler much quicker than coal. Propane is the way to go and not that big of an expense if you make your forge and burner yourself. Don Fogg gives instructions on both a vertical forge and burner on his web page. Just go to his search and type in forge. I've never delt with your chain saw damascus but know alot of makers will put a high carbon steel inbetween two layers of the damascus, that way it doesn't matter what the outside layers are, you'll have a good cutting edge. Ray

The other option is charcoal. If you have been using a campfire for forge heat you may be interested in charcoal. A lot of the neo-tribe guys use charcoal. Some of them buy it from a store as barbecue fuel and some of them make it. Ig is made from hardwoods. You need a deeper forge for charcoal and it puts off more ashes and is a little harder to get welding heat but apparently it makes for cleaner steel, ie less impurities absorbed. Come on down a little further to the Outpost and check in.



ghostdog

thanks fellas,
maybee bob just did convince me in going with propane !
is propane a cleaner and more predictable way ?

I did not push the propane thing because of this statement in an earlier post.

"I`ve mooved up in the world, and made a proper forge!"

I know if I just got done making a forge and THEN found out that there is something better, I would be upset that I did not do that instead. Actually, I think learning on coal is a good thing. You have to control your fire and pay close attention to it. You have to learn to judge what is happening to the steel. After you learn to set you gas forge on 3PSI for forging and 7psi for welding, the thought process goes away. Learning to forge with coal can teach you things that you will never learn starting with a propane forge.

Besides, after world war three, it would be good to know how to make fire with coal.

Do I recommend propane? Absolutely, after some coal forging. I used coal for a long time before I built my propane forge. However, I am currently rebuilding my coal forge, I am not done with it quite yet.

thanks bob,
a man can never have too many forges !
or knives !

thanks again

Just think, down the road a ways you will be ready to work on a Sunday morning, looking forward to a day of forging. You fire up the propane forge and after five minutes it starts to spit and sputter. Guess what, you are out of gas. It is Sunday and there is no place to get any propane. What do you do?

You just turn around and light up that goal forge and hammer all day long.

Backup plans are a good thing.